N.Korea threatens US with more nuke and rocket tests

North Korea threatened Thursday to conduct another nuclear test as well as more rocket launches targeting the U.S.

In a statement released by the National Defense Commission, the North said, “We will carry out further tests involving a variety of satellites and long-range rockets as well as a high-level nuclear test. And we make it clear that all these tests will target the U.S., the sworn enemy of the people.”

Pyongyang escalated its threat following the Wednesday statement from the North Korean Foreign Ministry on further nuclear tests in opposition to new sanctions on North Korea approved Wednesday by the U.N. Security Council. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is the head of the North Korean People`s Army and the ruling Workers` Party.

The defense commission added, “The new U.N. Security Council resolution is proof that hostile U.S. policies toward North Korea have entered a more dangerous stage. The only way to draw a conclusion with the U.S. is not through dialogue but through weapons." The statement is the harshest since Kim took office. The communist country is said to have completed preparation for a third nuclear test, and the world is waiting to see when North Korea will undertake this.

North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 in retaliation to international sanctions following rocket launches. South Korean authorities said highly enriched uranium, not plutonium, will probably used in the North`s next nuclear test because the statement spoke of a high-level nuclear test.

The U.S. was quick to ask North Korea not to proceed with a nuclear test. Glyn Davies, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea, told a news conference at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, “We think that it would be a mistake, obviously. We can call on North Korea. The U.S. is open to dialogue with North Korea and is willing to help the country if it gives up nuclear weapons and multi-level missiles, and chooses peace and development."

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said at a central conference for integrated defense Thursday, “What I’m most concerned about in this transitional period of the government is North Korea`s provocations. Words cannot achieve peace. Though it may come at a price, we must be strong to be able to suppress provocations of North Korea."

shcho@donga.com