North Korea threatens nuke test if UN doesn't apologise

from The Washington Post....

Signs of possible nuclear test in North Korea

By ANNA FIFIELD | 10:15PM EST - Tuesay, January 05, 2016

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. — Photograph: Associated Press.

TOKYO — There were signs of unusual seismic activity around North Korea's main nuclear test site Wednesday morning, sparking fears that Pyongyang ordered the detonation of another atomic device two days before Kim Jong Un's birthday.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said it would make a special announcement at noon Pyongyang time (10:30 p.m. EST).

This came after earthquake agencies in China, Japan and the United States all recorded unusual seismic activity in the northeastern corner of North Korea at about 10:30 a.m. local time Wednesday.

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a shallow 5.1-magnitude quake about 20 miles from the facility at Punggye-ri,where North Korea has carried out its three previous nuclear tests. Japan's Meteorological Agency said that it appeared to be some kind of artificial explosion and that the waveform was very similar to the ones detected at the nuclear tests in the past, public broadcaster NHK reported.

In both Seoul and Tokyo, the government's called emergency national security meetings to discuss the possibility of a nuclear test.

Joel Wit, a former American diplomat who runs the 38 North website that specializes in North Korea's weapons systems, said that while it was too soon be definitive, the location of the earthquake was “highly suspicious.”

“If this was the fourth North Korean nuclear test, its exact purpose — whether to develop smaller nuclear warheads for missiles or higher-yield bombs — remains unclear,” Wit said. “What is clear is that North Korea is moving forward with its nuclear weapons program and that the United States, China and the international community need to come up with more effective ways to deal with this growing threat.”

North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006 but only one during Kim Jong Un's reign, in February 2013.

Many analysts have been surprised that such a long period has passed without another test, since it is by testing that North Korea can advance its program.

Still, with typical North Korean bluster, Kim has repeatedly boasted of North Korea's increased nuclear capacity. He has declared that his regime has been able to make a device small enough to fit on a missile, and that it has the capability to make a hydrogen bomb, a device that is exponentially more powerful than an atomic one.

• Anna Fifield is The Washington Post's bureau chief in Tokyo, focusing on Japan and the Koreas. She previously reported for the Financial Times from Washington DC, Seoul, Sydney, London and from across the Middle East.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/signs-of-possible-nuclear-test-in-north-korea/2016/01/05/d8f300e7-995d-40de-a082-3171f0cc0ea9_story.html