U.S. warns North Korea against nuke test_时事politics

south koreans sit in front of a television broadcasting north korea's nuclear test plan at a railway station in seoul. the united states has warned north korea directly of international repercussions if it proceeds with a nuclear test, the us envoy said. (photo: afp) oct. 5 - the united states passed a warning to north korea not to conduct a nuclear test, the chief u.s. envoy to stalled disarmament said wednesday. "we are not going to live with a nuclear north korea," he said.

 

assistant secretary of state christopher hill told reporters that the u.s. has sent pyongyang a message of "deep concern" through diplomatic channels at the united nations in new york. he said north korea has yet to respond.

 

hill did not elaborate on the message, except to say the north koreans had received it.

 

the u.s. and north korea have no diplomatic relations outside of the deadlocked six-nation nuclear talks and rarely communicate with each other so directly — giving the u.s. message a seriousness that exceeds the public statements washington has issued so far.

 

"we are not going to accept a nuclear north korea. if they think that by exploding a weapon, we will come to terms with it, we won't," hill said.

 

hill would not discuss policy options, but said top u.s. diplomats are working with partners in asia to convince the north koreans "that this would be a bad mistake."

 

secretary of state condoleezza rice and other u.s. diplomats reached out to their counterparts in asia and europe, state department spokesman tom casey said. the effort was intended to send "a strong and unified signal ... that these kinds of threats are certainly not acceptable," he said.

 

undersecretary of state nicholas burns and japanese vice foreign minister shotaro yachi agreed wednesday that if north korea should test, international sanctions were one of the tools both nations would expect the security council to consider, a state department official said.

 

meanwhile, the u.s. was paying close attention to movement at possible north korean nuclear test sites. authorities cautioned, however, against reading too much into every movement during this heightened period of interest.

 

a u.s. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the highly sensitive situation with north korea, said the united states is now seeing the movement of people, materials and automobiles and other activity around one possible test site. but, the official said, it could be similar to the activity a couple of months ago. at that time, no test occurred.

 

the official noted that international observers do not have a baseline for comparison, because north korea has never performed a nuclear test.

 

when asked whether the north might be making active preparations for a test, casey said u.s. officials were looking at "all kinds of information" regarding north korea, but he declined to provide specifics.

 

the u.s. has spy satellites and other eavesdropping equipment aimed at north korea, including ground-based seismic sensors.

 

at the united nations, u.s. ambassador john bolton discussed the matter with the security council, casey said, and the united states would "hope to see some action there in the near future."