US President Barack Obama has spoken to the leaders of Japan and South Korea to assure them of US defence support after North Korea’s nuclear test.

North Korea has said it was fully prepared for any “pre-emptive” attack by the United States.

South Korea has warned further missile tests are likely and the United Nations has strongly condemned the North.

North Korea announced the underground test as part of work to bolster what it called its nuclear deterrent.

“It is clear that nothing has changed in the US hostile policy against DPRK [North Korea]… even under the new US administration,” the North’s KCNA news agency said in an article criticising recent US moves to relocate its fighter jets.

“Our army and people are fully ready for battle… against any reckless US attempt for a pre-emptive attack,” it said in a strongly-worded statement.

Coordinated defence

Mr Obama spoke by phone late on Monday with his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso to “coordinate” reaction to North Korea’s nuclear test.

The White House said they “agreed to work closely together to seek and support a strong United Nations Security Council resolution with concrete measures to curtail North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities.”

In his talks with Mr Aso, Mr Obama reiterated his country’s “unequivocal commitment to the defence of Japan and to maintaining peace and security in Northeast Asia.”

See map of test site

South Korean and Chinese defence ministers are set to discuss joint action, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

More missile tests

South Korean military sources have warned of signs that the North may be preparing to fire anti-ship missiles off its west coast.

The heightened fears of conflict follow weeks of warnings from North Korea that it would strengthen its “deterrent” and walked away from long-running negotiations on its nuclear programme after the US pressed it over the verification of previous agreements.

Monday’s blast, which was estimated by international seismologists to have the power of a 4.5 earthquake, appears to have been much more powerful than North Korea’s first nuclear test, in October 2006.

Defence officials in neighbouring Russia say it was an explosion of up to 20 kilotons, making it comparable to the American bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Meanwhile, South Korea announced it will delay no longer in joining the PSI – a US-led non-proliferation campaign aimed at stopping the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction.

North Korea has repeatedly warned that the South’s participation in the PSI would be tantamount to a declaration of war.

International resolution

The UN Security Council members voiced strong opposition to the test and condemned it, Russia’s UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said after an emergency meeting of the Council.

The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said America wanted “strong measures” when it starts work on the resolution later on Tuesday.

“The US thinks that this is a grave violation of international law and a threat to regional and international peace and security,” she said.

Russia’s UN envoy told reporters the nuclear test was a clear violation of UN Resolution 1718. That resolution imposed sanctions on North Korea after its first test.

NUCLEAR CRISIS

• Oct 2006 – North Korea conducts an underground nuclear test
• Feb 2007 – North Korea agrees to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for fuel aid
• June 2007 – North Korea shuts its main Yongbyon reactor
• June 2008 – North Korea makes its long-awaited declaration of nuclear assets
• Oct 2008 – The US removes North Korea from its list of countries which sponsor terrorism
• Dec 2008 – Pyongyang slows work to dismantle its nuclear programme after a US decision to suspend energy aid
• Jan 2009 – The North says it is scrapping all military and political deals with the South, accusing it of “hostile intent”
• April 2009 – Pyongyang launches a rocket carrying what it says is a communications satellite
• 25 May 2009 – North Korea conducts a second nuclear test

Q&A: North Korea nuclear test

Korean test rocks region

N Korea a problem for Obama

“The members of the Security Council voiced their strong opposition to, and condemnation of, the nuclear test,” Mr Churkin said.

The UK’s Ambassador to the UN, Sir John Sawers, explained that the Council had decided to act in two stages, first issuing a statement “strongly condemning and opposing what the North Koreans have done by carrying out this second nuclear test”.

“And we decided to start work immediately on a further Security Council resolution in order to uphold the international peace and security in the region,” he added.

The international community faces a difficult task, confronting what many view as a dangerously unpredictable regime, BBC world affairs correspondent David Loyn reports.

After the worst harvest for a decade, the World Food Programme says a quarter of the population of North Korea needs food aid.

To divert attention, the government has abruptly broken off talks, test-firing both long and short-range missiles and then carrying out the underground test, a major escalation, our correspondent says.

NORTH KOREA’S SUSPECTED NUCLEAR TEST SITE

• Nuclear test on 25 May 2009 is thought to have been carried out at same site as October 2006 test

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This article is from the BBC News website.