U.N. urges North Korea to cancel nuclear test

UNITED NATIONS — With speculation mounting of a North Korean nuclear test as early as this weekend, a unanimous U.N. Security Council urged the secretive, communist nation Friday to abandon all atomic weapons as it promised last year and cancel plans to detonate a device. Japan hinted the North could face sanctions or possible military action.

A statement adopted by the council expresses "deep concern" over North Korea's announcement that it planned a test — which would confirm strong suspicions it is a nuclear power — and warns Pyongyang of unspecified consequences if it carries through. The message also urges the North to return to six-party talks on scrapping its nuclear weapons program.

With tensions rising, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il met hundreds of his top military commanders and urged them to bolster the nation's defenses, as officers cheered, "Fight at the cost of our lives!" the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported earlier Friday.

A North Korea expert in China, the North's closest ally, said only the removal of American economic sanctions against Pyongyang could dissuade the country from carrying out a nuclear test.

"North Korea has already made a decision to carry out a test," said Li Dunqiu, of China's State Council Development Research Center, a Cabinet-level think tank. But "if the U.S. removes sanctions ... then tensions can be eased. Otherwise launching a nuclear test is unavoidable for North Korea."

The United States imposed economic sanctions on North Korea last year to punish it for alleged counterfeiting and money laundering. For the last 13 months, North Korea has boycotted six-nation talks aimed at persuading it to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

North Korea said Tuesday it decided to act in the face of what it claimed was "the U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war," but gave no date for the test. Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of invading North Korea.

Both China and Russia have urged the United States and North Korea to hold talks, which Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Friday "could be useful in resolving the situation." But he said U.S. Ambassador John Bolton informed the council that there would be no North Korean-U.S. talks except in the margins of resumed six-party talks.

Bolton said the Security Council needs to adopt a long-term strategy to deal with North Korea but the top U.S. priority now is to stop a nuclear test.