Obama pledges swift reaction to NK nuclear test
Published 10:39 am Tuesday, February 12, 2013
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama reacted sharply to North Korea’s nuclear test Tuesday, promising swift international action to bring the rogue communist regime in line. The detonation came hours before the American leader’s State of the Union address, where he was expected to address U.S. denuclearization plans.
In a statement, Obama called Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in seven years a “highly provocative act” that threatens U.S. security and international peace. The reaction from the White House was significantly stronger than after North Korea’s long-range missile test in December, when the administration only promised “appropriate action” alongside America’s allies.
“The danger posed by North Korea’s threatening activities warrants further swift and credible action by the international community,” Obama said in a statement early Tuesday. “The United States will also continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies.”
North Korea said it successfully detonated a miniaturized nuclear device at a northeastern test site Tuesday. South Korean, U.S. and Japanese seismic monitoring agencies said they detected an earthquake in North Korea with a magnitude between 4.9 and 5.2.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the test was conducted safely but with “great explosive power.” The test counters the “ferocious” U.S. hostility that undermines the North’s peaceful, sovereign right to launch satellites, it argued. Last month, North Korea’s National Defense Commission said the United States was its prime target for a nuclear test and long-range rocket launches.
“These provocations do not make North Korea more secure,” Obama said. “Far from achieving its stated goal of becoming a strong and prosperous nation, North Korea has instead increasingly isolated and impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.”
The test occurred hours before Obama was to deliver his prime-time address to the nation. While the bulk of the speech will focus on the economy and job creation, the administration had sought to emphasize that it wants to work with Russia on further reducing the amount of deployable nuclear weapons each power maintains, building on the U.S.-Russian New START accord that took effect in 2011.
It’s unclear how North Korea’s test would affect the planning. Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, said Obama would make the case Tuesday evening that the “only way North Korea will rejoin the world community is if they stop these threats and live up to their international obligations.”
The Obama administration’s options for a response are limited — even though it is committed to protecting America’s key Asian allies, South Korea and Japan.
The U.S. already maintains severe unilateral sanctions against North Korea, and commerce between the two countries is nearly nonexistent. Tougher global sanctions are dependent on the participation of China, Pyongyang’s primary trading partner, but Beijing has resisted measures that would cut off North Korea’s economy completely.
At the U.N., the Security Council opened an emergency meeting Tuesday and condemned North Korea’s action. But any new, binding international sanctions will now have to be worked out.