North Korea says it will conduct nuclear test

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - An increasingly isolated North Korea said it would conduct its first-ever nuclear test, blaming a U.S. "threat of nuclear war and sanctions" for forcing its hand.

The statement by North Korea's foreign ministry, carried on the official KCNA news agency, was condemned by neighboring Japan as "unacceptable" and caused South Korea to increase its security alert.

The announcement confirms weeks of rumors the communist state was planning a test and came amid increasingly sour relations with the outside world after it test-fired missiles in July.

"The U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel the DPRK (North Korea) to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering nuclear deterrent, as a corresponding measure for defense," the statement said.

But it added that North Korea would never use nuclear weapons first and would "do its utmost to realize the denuclearization of the peninsula and give impetus to the world-wide nuclear disarmament and the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons."

Analysts say North Korea probably has enough fissile material to make six to eight nuclear bombs but probably does not have the technology to make one small enough to mount on a missile.

Pyongyang's latest and, to date, most extreme saber-rattling was most probably aimed at trying to force the United States into direct talks and end a painful financial crackdown on impoverished North Korean offshore bank accounts, analysts said.

Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said any nuclear test by North Korea would be unacceptable.

"North Korea needs to realize that unless it responds to the concerns of international society, its situation will only worsen," he told reporters.

The North Korean statement comes as Abe readies for talks with leaders in China and South Korea.

Officials in China - North Korea's main suppliers of aid - gave no immediate official response to the report.

Top South Korean security officials met and issued a statement outlining the increased security alert, the presidential Blue House said.

Both Koreas, China and Japan are members of six-nation talks trying to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. The two other members are Russia and the United States.

North Korea walked out of the talks almost a year ago and has refused to return until the United States ends its financial squeeze.

"Pyongyang has been increasingly controlled by hardliners in the past months and its policies and words have become more and more extreme. The situation is really dangerous," said Shi Yinhong, professor of International Relations at Renmin University in Beijing.

"I think by the statement they want to show their resolve to conduct a nuclear test. It's not that they will do that this month or next month. Technological preparations take time. But they want to tell the world that a political decision has been made and they will just do it."

North Korea has a long history of triggering diplomatic crises to get itself heard.

A nuclear test is certain to be seen as another attempt by North Korea to force the United States into direct negotiations, something it has long pushed for but which Washington has rejected until Pyongyang returns to the six-party talks.

"North Korea thinks it has no other option but to press the United States to have bilateral negotiations with them. North Korea has nothing to lose by conducting a nuclear test," Chang Myung-soon, an expert on North Korea's military, said.

"It wouldn't care if its people will starve due to toughened economic sanctions, and a military attack on North Korea will be really difficult considering opposition from South Korea, China and Russia," he said.

North Korea blamed the United States for the latest ratcheting up of tension on the Korean peninsula, which has been divided for more than 50 years after a war for which no formal peace treaty has ever been signed.

It accused Washington of trying to topple its government with the financial crackdown. The United States said the measures are aimed at curbing illicit activity, such as counterfeiting.

"The U.S. daily increasing threat of a nuclear war and its vicious sanctions and pressure have caused a grave situation on the Korean peninsula in which the supreme interests and security of our state are seriously infringed upon and the Korean nation stands at the crossroads of life and death," the North Korean statement said.

Renmin University's Shi said: "They are also using this as a means to scare the United States and its allies to ease the sanctions and pressures imposed on it. Their primary concern is the financial sanctions."

John Swensen-Wright, associate professor at the Chatham House think tank in London, said the announcement appeared to be timed for the upcoming congressional elections in the United States.

"The mid-term elections are only five or six weeks away. I don't think it's any coincidence that the North Korean leadership has chosen this time to put maximum pressure on Washington," he said.