North Korea warns of '2nd, 3rd measures'

WASHINGTON: North Korea said on Tuesday that its widely condemned nuclear test was merely its "first response" to what it called US threats, warning that it will continue with unspecified "second and third measures of greater intensity" if the US maintains its hostility.

The head of the international nuclear watchdog called the North Korea's nuclear test "deeply regrettable" and the United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting in New York to take up the matter.

Even before the North conducted Tuesday's test, US President Barack Obama's administration had already threatened to take additional action to penalize the country through the United Nations.

But the fact is that there are few sanctions left to apply. The only penalty that would truly hurt the North would be a cutoff of oil and other aid from China. And until now, despite issuing warnings, the Chinese leadership has refused to participate in sanctions. Kim, believed to be about 29, appears to be betting that even a third test would not change the Chinese calculus. The test set off a scramble among Washington's Asian allies to assess what the North Koreans had done. The US sent aloft aircraft equipped
with delicate sensors that may be able to determine whether it was a plutonium or uranium weapon.

Japanese defence minister Itsunori Onodera said an Air Self-Defence Force jet had been sent to monitor for radioactivity in Japanese airspace. Japan's PM, Shinzo Abe, told parliament the country was considering "its own actions, including sanctions, to resolve this issue".
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