SEOUL, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- South Korea warned North Korea Wednesday it would unleash a regional atomic arms race if it carried out its threatened nuclear test.
"It is necessary to send a grave warning to North Korea so that it does not misjudge the current situation and conduct a nuclear test," Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told a press briefing amid a barrage of questions on the North's announcement Tuesday that it would conduct a safe nuclear test.
North Korea did not say when it would take such action.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and with China's foreign minister Wednesday, the Yonhap news service reported.
Washington said the nuclear test would be a "very provocative act."
China, North Korea's main ally, issued a statement pointedly calling on North Korea by name to exercise restraint -- a contrast to its usual appeals to "all sides" to remain calm.
