How do you solve a problem like Korea?
Despot ... effigy of Kim Jong-il burns in South Korea yesterday
By GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON
Political Editor
OCTOBER 10, 2006
PRIME Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush led moves last night to crack down on renegade North Korea after it tested a nuclear bomb.
Pint-sized crackpot leader Kim Jong-il gave the go-ahead for the underground blast — despite worldwide protests.
The United Nations Security Council began crisis talks aimed at punishing his country.
An emergency resolution will be backed by
MILITARY authority.
World leaders insisted there were
NO plans to invade but the Pentagon
HAS drawn up a blueprint for such a move.
And the crisis will speed up US plans to build a missile shield to protect Japan from attack. There are 50,000 US troops stationed there.
Mr Blair said: “We regard this very, very seriously indeed.
“People are seized of the significance of this irresponsible act and there will be a response.”
Mr Blair added the Pyongyang leaders were “in clear breach of their international obligations” and condemned them for conducting the testing in "circumstances where its people are kept virtually in a position of slavery and die of starvation while billions is spent on nuclear weapons".
Dangerous game ... the nuclear club
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said today the UK would be “pushing for a robust response”.
She added: “Put simply, this means we shall be pushing for sanctions against North Korea."
She added that the claimed underground test of a nuclear weapon by North Korea “poses a clear threat to international peace and security”.
President Bush raised the fear that brutal dictator Kim could pass nukes to Iran.
The ashen-faced president said at the White House: “The transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States and we would hold North Korea fully accountable for the consequences of such action.”
He accused North Korea of throwing the world’s delicate balance of peace into chaos.
Japan, Russia, China, Pakistan and India all condemned North Korea.
There were angry protests in South Korea where effigies of Kim were burned.
The Security Council was considering a response under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which entitles it to act if it identifies a threat to peace.
Blast ... shock wave
Last night the US said it would propose UN sanctions including a
TRADE BAN on military and luxury items, powers to
INSPECT cargoes entering or leaving the country and
FREEZING assets connected to weapons.
The UN are expected to push for a blockade but economic sanctions would hammer an already bankrupt country where more than
THREE MILLION people have died of hunger in the last few years.
Estimates varied of the power of the bomb detonated.
Gary Gibson, of Australia’s Seismology Research Center, put it at about one kiloton — equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT.
But Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying it ranged between five and 15 kilotons.
Threat ... North Korean leader The bomb America used to destroy Japanese city Hiroshima in 1945 was 12.5 kilotons.
Japan observed a magnitude 4.9 quake in the northeast of North Korea. They later dispatched three T-4 supersonic spy planes over the area to monitor radiation levels.
North Korea had been under intense diplomatic pressure to abandon its nuclear programme. It had refused for a year to attend international talks.
Its official news agency said yesterday: “The nuclear test will contribute to maintaining peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and surrounding region.”
North Korea is said to have enough radioactive material for about six bombs. They have tried for years to build one.
Experts say it still cannot make a missile capable of carrying one across continents. But one being developed would be able to hit California.
thesun.co.uk
