International Response

UN chief urges DPRK to observe moratorium on nuke test

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-04 17:10

United Nations -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to observe the current moratorium on nuclear testing.

In a statement released by his spokesman on Tuesday night, Annan voiced his serious concern over the DPRK's stated intentions of carrying out a nuclear test in the future.

"Such action, if undertaken, would further aggravate tensions in the region," he said, noting that "it would bring universal condemnation by the international community and will not help DPRK achieve the goals expressed in its statement, particularly with regard to strengthening its security."

The UN chief thus urged the DPRK leadership "to exercise utmost restraint and adhere to the international community's norm on nuclear testing and also observe the current moratorium."

He believed that DPRK should return to the six-party talks so that the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and other security concerns between and among the parties could be solved through negotiations.

Earlier on Tuesday, the UN Security Council's President for October, Ambassador Kenzo Oshima of Japan, said that the issue of the DPRK and its nuclear program, would be near the top of the council's agenda this month.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Foreign Ministry, the DPRK said that "the field of scientific research of DPRK will in the future conduct a nuclear test under the condition where safety is firmly guaranteed," the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

But the statement did not give a specific date or location of the upcoming test.