NKorea test poses new challenge for Bush

WASHINGTON, Oct 9: The United States was told by South Korea that North Korea's underground nuclear test had a magnitude of 3.58 and there was no initial sign of nuclear leakage, a senior US official told Reuters.

There was no immediate formal confirmation from the United States the test had occurred but the US senior official said, ''The South Koreans confirmed test at 3.58 on Richter scale.'' The test could mark a significant escalation in Pyongyang's nuclear advance and presents US President George W Bush with a major foreign policy challenge less than one month before midterm elections.

The US Geological Survey said it detected a 4.2 magnitude tremor in North Korea at 1035 hrs. local time (0750 hrs IST), 385 km northeast of the capital, Pyongyang at a depth of 0 miles (0 km).

The US point man on North Korea, Chris Hill, said last week the United States could not live with a nuclear-armed North Korea.

Reports of the test came as the United States has been preoccupied with trying to prevent a civil war from breaking out in Iraq and to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear program that Washington believes is aimed toward a nuclear weapon.

Neither the CIA nor the Pentagon could immediately confirm the test had taken place.

But the senior US official told Reuters: ''The Chinese got told (by Pyongyang) 20 minutes ahead, immediately told us and Japan and South Korea. The South Koreans confirmed test at 3.58 on Richter scale. (It was an) underground and there were no reports of leakage but this is really early.'' Another official said, ''Everybody's working assumption is that something has occurred.'' Both officials declined to be named because the matter involved classified information.

'BACKED INTO A CORNER'

David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector, told CNN: ''If it is only one weapon, it would be a positive sign. ... If they conducted two, three or four tests it would be more worrisome because it would suggest they were conducting ... a series of tests that would allow them to create a much better arsenal.'' US officials estimate North Korea has fuel for between one and a dozen nuclear bombs.

Albright said his own analysis was that Pyongyang ''felt increasingly backed into a corner.... If they felt insecure ...

or they felt insulted by the West ... (then) they're responding with the nuclear test in response to the pressure they feel from the United States.'' He added: ''I don't think North Korea is trying (for) an escalation that could lead to a military confrontation. ... I think they're trying to respond from a corner.'' Bush has fended off questions about North Korea by insisting any talks with Pyongyang be conducted through a six-party format involving the United States, Japan, South Korea, China, Russia and North Korea.

His goal has been to avoid having the United States negotiating directly with North Korea and instead include countries in the region with the most at stake in a diplomatic outcome to keep nuclear weapons off the Korean Peninsula.

But the six-party talks have been stalled for a year with North Korea refusing to return to the table, instead insisting on direct talks with Washington. Differences have emerged among some of the parties on how tough to treat North Korea.

In the run-up to the reported test, the Bush administration declared a nuclear test unacceptable and urged Pyongyang not to do so.

US officials have been discussing a number of sanctions to impose on North Korea in the event it went ahead with a nuclear test, including military exercises with other countries that might effectively create a blockade around the isolated communist state.

Bush labeled North Korea part of an ''axis of evil'' along with Iran and Iraq in 2002 but in recent years has emphasized a diplomatic approach to its nuclear ambitions given the difficult of the Iraq war.

REUTERS