N Korea: Was it, or wasn't it?

2006-10-09 22:20

Washington - The United States might not know for "a couple of days" whether North Korea truly tested a nuclear device as it claimed or not, said White House spokesperson Tony Snow on Monday.

"It could be anything from late this afternoon to another day or two," he said hours after US President George W Bush denounced Pyongyang for the announcement that it had carried out such a test.

"It may take a while."

Snow also suggested that Washington's push for the United Nations security council to punish the Stalinist regime would not change, even if the test was found not to have been nuclear.

"I'm not aware that there is a specific menu for real test/fake test," he said.

Still working diplomatically

"Whatever happened, it clearly was a provocative act."

"We still don't find it acceptable to have a nuclear Korean peninsula and we are still working diplomatically to try to make sure it doesn't happen."

Snow declined to say how the United States was trying to determine whether Pyongyang had tested an atomic device, citing the need to protect US intelligence "sources and methods".

But, he said the US government would make its conclusions public.

- AFP