(BBC) North Korea says it has carried out its first ever test of a nuclear weapon, the state news agency has reported.
It said the underground test, done in defiance of international warnings, was a success and had not resulted in any leak of radiation.
A South Korean official said an explosion had been detected in the north-east of North Korea, measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale.
North Korea said last week that it planned to test a nuclear weapon.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has called an emergency meeting of his government's National Security Council.
A South Korean official said that there had been a grave change in the security situation on the peninsula.
Officials in South Korea have been quoted as saying that an explosion was detected in north Hamgyong province in North Korea.
The region has been on high alert since North Korea said last week it would conduct a nuclear test.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has just arrived in Seoul for a meeting with Mr Roh, following talks on the crisis with his Chinese counterparts in Beijing.
At the Beijing summit, Japanese and Chinese leaders had earlier said that such a test would be considered "unacceptable".
Crossposted at Eye On The World.
6 comments:
Well, we were expecting this to happen.
The fuel for the fire is the world's reaction to this test. The world needs to ignore DPRK, period.
I have a bad feeling that tomorrow will be just another day.
Unfortunately, it can't be ignored, DPRK is a nutty communist regime.
I bet the U.N. will issue a very strongly worded letter about this, come morning.
Mts, oh yes, that'll teach them.
But on a more serious note - Iran is watching...
Iran is watching, indeed. They've already showed the rest of the world what they think of them (us), so now they'll feel even more "entitled" to have nukes.
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