UN holds emergency session over North Korea nuclear test

The UN Security Council was in emergency session tonight after North Korea carried out a powerful underground nuclear test condemned by President Obama as a threat to world peace.

Mr Obama said that the test was a great threat to the peace and security of the world and a blatant violation of international law. Gordon Brown called it erroneous, misguided and a danger to the world. Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General and a South Korean, said that he was deeply disturbed by the detonation, which was detected by US scientists as a magnitude 4.7 earthquake.

Yet no one specified what punitive action they wanted taken. A military strike is not an option, given the North’s huge conventional army and close proximity to Japan and South Korea. Only France called for a new set of sanctions against Pyongyang.

The 15-member Security Council was expected to issue a joint statement strongly condemning the test, but analysts believe that China is unlikely to back fresh sanctions. Even Russia spoke only of “concern” over the detonation rather than outrage.

The US has been grappling with the threat of North Korea’s nuclear programme since the early 1990s, and each approach has failed. Pyongyang is the world’s most isolated regime and previous measures have done nothing to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

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