North Korea Threatens Second Nuclear Test

North Korea warned today that it would conduct a second nuclear test unless the United States softens its stance.

Amid jitters in the region about the possibility of further explosions, Kim Yong Nam - the second most powerful political figure in Pyongyang - said his country would not return to six party talks unless sanctions are dropped.

"The issue of future nuclear tests is linked to US policy toward our country," Mr Kim told Japan's Kyodo news agency. "If the United States continues to take a hostile attitude and apply pressure on us in various forms, we will have no choice but to take physical steps to deal with that."

The Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, told reporters he had received information that North Korea was preparing a second blast in defiance of world opinion.

"We have very real concerns that they may conduct another nuclear test and that they may do so very soon," he said.

The success of the first test remains in doubt. Only Russia has confirmed North Korea as a member of the nuclear club, after what it says was an explosion of more than 10 kilotons. But the US and other nations say the blast was far smaller. "It is hard to say if it was a very large but traditional type of explosion, or else a nuclear explosion. If it was a nuclear explosion, it was a failed explosion," the French defence minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, said. "However, that does not make it any the less serious."

Despite a wave of international condemnation, the region's powers are divided over how to punish Kim Jong-il. China - North Korea's historic ally - has said it would support action by the UN security council, but has ruled out military action. The US and Japan propose the toughest sanctions, including a ban on military and luxury goods, naval inspections, and a tightening of controls on North Korea's overseas accounts.

Humanitarian organisations have called for restraint, saying sanctions should not be allowed to affect the already precarious supplies of food and medicine in the impoverished country.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said punitive measures were necessary, but the door to negotiations should be left open.

"We condemn this," Mr Putin said of the test, in an interview with the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. "But we must not break off the process of talks."

Some observers said, however, that the major parties were divided in their long-term aims.

"The problem is that China and South Korea want a solution, but the US and Japan don't," said Glyn Ford, a British MEP who specialises in east Asian affairs. "Japan needs tension on the peninsular to tear up its pacifist constitution and for the US, it is a justification for its Star Wars missile defence programme."