Nuclear test: Japan threatens immediate and stern meaures
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe agreed with US President George Bush to take “decisive action” against North Korea at the UN Security Council over its nuclear weapons test.
The two leaders, who spoke by phone this evening, called the test a grave threat to international security and agreed to push for “decisive action” at the UN Security Council, which is to meet later today in New York.
They also affirmed the strength of the US-Japan alliance, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Abe took the call in Seoul, where he held talks with South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun.
Late today, Tokyo dispatched three T-4 supersonic aircraft to waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula to monitor radiation levels.
The aircraft will collect air samples at an altitude of about 9,900ft which will be analysed for radioactivity, according to the Defence Agency. More flights were scheduled later in the week.
Earlier, Japanese officials called the test a serious challenge to its national security and said Tokyo would respond with immediate and stern measures.
“If we consider that North Korea has also been strengthening its ballistic missile capabilities, which could help it deliver weapons of mass destruction, a test is a grave matter of concern,” Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters.
The North test fired several missiles, including one capable of hitting the United States, in July.
A test would “constitute a serious challenge to our country’s security that cannot be tolerated,” he said, and Japan will consider “taking stern measures immediately”. But he did not elaborate on what those measures might be.
Shiozaki also said Japan would strengthen its alliance with the United States to bolster its defence capacity. The US, which has 50,000 troops in Japan, plans to deploy anti-missile Patriot missiles at a base in the south of the country to be operational by the end of the year.
Abe was in Seoul when Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency announced the North had successfully tested a nuclear weapon underground.
Abe condemned the tests after the summit. “A North Korea with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles constitutes a grave threat,” he told a press conference.
Japan observed a magnitude 4.9 quake at around in the northeast region of North Korea, where Pyongyang claims to have conducted its nuclear weapon test, the Meteorological Agency said.
In Tokyo, Cabinet ministers convened a security meeting to discuss responses. Defence Agency director general Fumio Kyuma later told reporters that the seismic activity detected had been different from that caused by an earthquake.
No increase in radioactivity has been detected at any of the over 100 monitoring stations across Japan, according to Yasushi Morishita of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. He said that any radioactive fallout could take several days to reach Japan, depending on the weather.
Japanese officials have stressed that Japan will work with other countries in its response. South Korea, the United States and Japan will be in close contact with each other, foreign minister Taro Aso said after a teleconference with his South Korean and US counterparts.
US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer said that if the test is confirmed, the US and Japan will ask the United Nations to co-ordinate a response.
“Obviously this is a very grave situation. If the North Koreans have tested a nuclear device, it would be a very serious and dangerous matter that we would of course take to the United Nations.”
So far, only Russia has said with 100% certainty that the blast was a nuclear explosion. However, reaction from other governments indicated they were treating the North’s claim of a nuclear weapon as fact.
Japan’s Defence Agency said it will send an unspecified number of T-4 supersonic training aircraft to the Sea of Japan to find out if any radiation was released during North Korea’s claimed underground test.
The mayors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, two Japanese cities levelled by atomic bombs dropped by US forces in 1945, released statements condemning the tests. Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Ito called the tests a threat to world peace.
Japanese police stepped up security around the Tokyo headquarters of a pro-North Korean Japanese organisation, citing possible protests by Japanese right-wing groups, according to Kyodo News agency.
