SEOUL, South Korea - South Korean government officials said North Korea performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test Monday, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korean officials could not immediately confirm the report.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun convened an urgent meeting of security advisers over the issue, Yonhap reported.

The North said last week it would conduct a nuclear test as part of its deterrent against a possible U.S. invasion.

[source]

This is getting real now.

UPDATE: North Korea Says Nuclear Tests Successful

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Monday it has performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test. The country’s official Korean Central News Agency said the test was performed successfully and there was no radioactive leakage from the site.

“The nuclear test is a historic event that brought happiness to the our military and people,” KCNA said.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (9:36 p.m. EDT Sunday) in Hwaderi near Kilju city, citing defense officials.

The Japanese government set up a task force in response to reports of the test, Kyodo News agency said Monday. Ministers and officials were urgently called to discuss the situation, the agency reported.

Officials at the Prime Minister’s Office were not immediately available to confirm the report.

South Korean Intellegence Report:

South Korea said the country’s state intelligence agency detected a 3.58 magnitude seismic tremor in the eastern remote area of North Hamgyeong province at 10:36 a.m. (0136 GMT), reported South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

Earlier in the week the United States issued this statement to Pyongyang:

North Korea “can have a future or it can have these weapons. It cannot have both,” Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Wednesday in remarks at Johns Hopkins University’s U.S.-Korea Institute. It was the toughest response yet from the Bush administration, coming two days after Pyongyang announced plans to conduct its first nuclear test.

The U.N. Security Council said that any nuclear test done by North Korea would be a serious threat to world peace and security. The U.N.’s statement included that the Security Council would ‘act consistent with its responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations.’

Australia Prime Minister John Howard

Australia’s Prime Minister strongly condemned the test and stated that seismic activity confirmed the test had taken place. He stated that North Korea would not garner better bargaining power through these actions. “The test has destabilised the region, it’s eroded North Korea’s own security,” he said. “A strong international response is called for and Australia will give full support to that response.”

Mr Howard described it as outrageous that North Korea relied on the international community to feed its starving population while devoting scarce resources to nuclear programs.

South Korea has warned it wouldn’t tolerate a nuclear armed North Korea.

Japan has said a any nuclear test by North Korea would be unforgivable.

China has urged North Korea to show restraint.

Japan and South Korea have been trying to put pressure on China to dissuade Pyongyang from following through with it’s announcement that North Korea would test nukes this weekend.

North Korea can now be considered a nuclear power. It is a volitile and secretive state that has technically been at war with South Korea and the United States for about 50 years.

This is a perfect example of why we should not half-fight a war or leave a war unfinished. Whenever we’ve done that, it’s come back to bite us.

This action by the North Koreans reveals an entirely new dimension to the War on Terror. The complexion of the war and the world has changed today.

UPDATE #2: More coming in:

Hugh Hewitt

The Clinton-Kim 1994 Agreement, midwifed by Jummy Carter, bears its fruit.

Amboy Times

While pundits pooh-poohed the Taepodong 2 missiles, the international community sat back, content to negotiate with a wonton thug, willing to starve his own people for the sake of threatening his neighbors.

Wizbang

Prediction: The Democrats will come out tomorrow morning and place the blame for NoKo’s test squarely at the feet of President Bush in an attempt to capitalize politically on this turn of events. Of course, the Dems will conveniently forget that it was Bill Clinton and Co. who bought Crazy Kim’s no nuclear weapons promise. And the nutroots will insist that President Bush forced Crazy Kim into testing the nuke because he refused to sit down with him in bilateral talks.

Hot Air

Russian military officials in Pyongyang say they have received information that North Korea intends to give the US up to three months to lift financial sanctions imposed last year and to begin negotiations before carrying out its threat. “If Americans don’t start bilateral dialogue with Pyongyang and lift sanctions, then Kim Jong-il is expected to give the order to carry on with the test, most likely in the second half of December or early January,” one official said.

Blue Crab Boulevard

As the West fiddles, the world begins to burn. As the American political scene descends into a cartoonish hell where the stupid phone sex antics of a disgraced Congressman take center stage, a real, nuclear hell is born. Tomorrow, all the papers will have wall to wall coverage of the Foley matter while Kim plots his next move and Ahmadinejad goes about midwifing his bomb. Very good, folks.

Macsmind

My wife is Korean, and as some of you know I’m a two tour veteran of the DMZ in the 1970s, and I know this, that you simply cannot negotiate with Kim Jong il, any more than you could with his wack job father.

At home we have a satellite with Korean news on right now and they are all over this, and treating it as though it happened. There are public sirens going off all over the place in the South, that means everyone off the street and a curfew in place.

others: isaacf, Hillary Needs a Vacation, Stop the ACLU, Michelle Malkin, Morning Coffee, Leaning Straight Up, The Political Pitbull, RightWinged

Previous:

North Korea Announces Plans for Nuclear Tests

North Korea Has More Missiles Ready

Paper Bullets

North Korean Games

Kim Jong Il

crossposted at Jihad du Jour

Sphere: Related Content