The United Nations Security Council has called an emergency meeting, convening at 9 a.m. EST today, in response to a nuclear test by North Korea, a first since Kim Jong Un succeeded his father, the New York Times reports. In 2006, a nuclear test produced an estimated explosive yield of less than one kiloton. In 2009, a blast was estimated to have yielded two to six kilotons and Tuesday's generated six to seven.
The timing coincides with the day of President Obama's State of the Union address, and in the midst of a power transfer in South Korea. It's likely to be Park Geun Hye's first diplomatic test as she takes office after Lee Myung-Bak.
Obama called the test a "highly provocative act" and demanded even stiffer sanctions against N. Korea from the international community.
This nuclear test follows another tightening of sanctions after N. Korea launched a rocket that reached the Philippines in December. Japan and the United States are both trying to determine whether the test used plutonium or enriched uranium.
The first two tests were plutonium, which does not occur naturally and is available in limited amounts from Pyongyang's decommissioned nuclear reactors. Uranium, which is far more common, requires enrichment before it can be used in a nuclear warhead.
China, a staunch North Korean ally whose relationship with the impoverished country has nevertheless been strained, issued a statement that condemned the test but called for a calm response from all parties. Xi Jinping, the new Chinese leader who assumed office last November, has said he wants to develop "a new kind of relationship between two great powers", and the United States has been observing his reaction carefully to gauge his interest and investment in US security interests.
China is more invested in "no war, no instability and no nukes" on the Korean Peninsula, in that order, the Times reports, but if it continues to hesitate, the United States may grow impatient and increase its defensive forces in South Korea and Japan-- an undesirable situation for a country already paranoid about the US presence in Asia.
Jia Qingguo, a professor at Beijing University's School of International Studies, explained that many of China's highest-ranked policy makers still believe the country needs North Korea to act as a buffer between it and South Korea (and consequently the United States), but he says that cooperation with the US against N. Korea would be more advantageous. "We have to work together to stop it from becoming a nuclear power," he told the New York Times.
