N. Korea says it successfully tested nukes

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea faced global condemnation and calls for harsh sanctions Monday after it announced that it had set off an atomic weapon underground, a test that thrusts the secretive communist state into the elite club of nuclear-armed nations.\nThe United States, Japan, China and Britain led a united chorus of criticism, with President Bush saying the reported test poses a threat to global peace and security and "deserves an immediate response" by the U.N. Security Council, which met to discuss the crisis.\nBush said he had called the leaders of South Korea, China, Russia and Japan, and all had reaffirmed a commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.\nThe reported test came one day after the ninth anniversary of reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's accession to power.\nMembers of the 15-nation Security Council were unanimous in denouncing the claim.\n"No one defended it, no one even came close to defending it," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said. "I was very impressed by the unanimity of the council ... on the need for a strong and swift answer to what everyone agreed amounted to a threat to international peace and security."\nThe Security Council had warned the impoverished and isolated nation just two days earlier not to go through with a test, and Bolton said Washington will seek U.N. sanctions to curb North Korea's import and export of material for weapons of mass destruction, as well as its illicit financial activities.\nBolton said Washington wants a resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter that goes beyond the limited sanctions adopted by the council in July after North Korea conducted seven missile tests. Britain also promised to push for sanctions in the face of the Pyongyang government's defiance.\nNorth Korea's U.N. ambassador Pak Gil Yon said the Security Council should congratulate his country instead of passing "useless" resolutions or statements.\nIranian state radio, meanwhile, blamed North Korea's reported nuclear test on U.S. pressure, saying the test "was a reaction to America's threats and humiliation."\nIran has said it will not abandon uranium enrichment despite the threat of international sanctions over its disputed nuclear program, which Tehran insists is purely for peaceful purposes.\nBush said the United States was still attempting to confirm that a nuclear test had actually taken place. Still, he said, "such a claim itself constitutes a threat to international peace and security"