Security Council condemns N. Korean test

WASHINGTON, May 25 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council Monday condemned North Korea's second nuclear test as other nations considered new sanctions against the communist country.

Even as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "strongly deplored" the testing as "clear and grave" violations of Security Council resolutions, the 15-member body met in emergency session at the request of Japan, the U.N. news center said.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, as current president of the council's session, later told reporters council members "voiced their strong opposition to and condemnation of the nuclear test," the U.N. news center said.

In earlier resolutions issued after North Korea conducted its first test in October 2006, the council had demanded North Korea "not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile" and imposed sanctions against the country.

Churkin said council members will start work "immediately on a resolution on this matter in accordance with the body's responsibilities under the U.N. Charter."

Separately, a spokesman for Ban said the secretary-general "is deeply concerned that this act will negatively affect regional peace and stability as well as the global nuclear non-proliferation regime."

China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, is "resolutely opposed to the nuclear test" by North Korea, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday, noting the North had "ignored universal opposition of the international community and once more conducted the nuclear test," Xinhua reported.

The Foreign Ministry issued a "strong demand" North Korea "live up to its commitment to non-nuclearization on the Korean Peninsula … and return to the track of the six-party talks." The efforts of the six nations, which include China and the United States, on the North's denuclearization remain stalled.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, warned of plans for "strong measures" against North Korea, CNN reported, adding France and Japan may support new sanctions.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in his condemnation of the testing, said the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs pose a grave threat to the peace and security of the world.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quoted as calling the testing "erroneous, misguided and a danger to the world."

Other European governments also called on the U.N. Security Council to act, The New York Times reported.

There has been no immediate response from North Korea about the world reaction to its testing.

Meanwhile, some experts said the claims of the second testing could not be verified.

Seismologists said Monday's testing triggered an earth tremor between magnitudes 4.5 and 5.3 on the Richter earthquake scale, the Times reported.

But Pyongyang's claims of similar success in its first nuclear test were later found determined by Washington and Seoul to have been exaggerated, the Times said.