UNSC condemns NKorean N-test; Pyongyang launches more missiles

The UN Security Council swiftly condemned North Korea's nuclear test on Tuesday and mulled stronger measures against it, but a defiant Pyongyang appeared ready for a showdown by test-firing two more missiles and warned the US against any "reckless" military action.

The UN Security Council said the nuclear test by North Korea on Monday was a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning the country from conducting nuclear development and that it would start work immediately on a new resolution that could result in even stronger measures.

The non-binding statement came after the Council met in an emergency session on a holiday, hours after the second nuclear test by the reclusive North Korean regime sent shock waves around the world drawing international condemnation.

"The members of the Security Council voiced their strong opposition to and condemnation of the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on May 25, 2009, which constitutes a clear violation of resolution 1718 (of 2006)," the non-binding statement said.

North Korea will "pay a price" if it continues to carry out nuclear weapon and missile tests in violation of international law, US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said soon after the UNSC passed the statement. 

"If you want to continue to test and provoke the international community, they (North Korea) are going to find they'll pay a price because the international community is clear: it's not acceptable," Rice said.

Hours after the UNSC issued the statement, North Korea fired two more short-range missiles from its east coast, heightening tension on the Korean Peninsula after its latest nuclear test and three missile launches drew global condemnation.

A pair of short-range missiles -- one surface-to-air and another surface-to-water with the range of 130 kms -- were fired from its east coast launch pad, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

Concerned over North Korea's "reckless" nuclear test, US president Barack Obama spoke to his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak and Japanese prime minister Taro Aso, as both Seoul and Tokyo strongly reacted to Pyongyang's flexing of its muscle.

Obama assured Lee that the United States will protect his country from any possible North Korean aggression, Lee's spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.

Obama and Lee "agreed that the test was a reckless violation of international law that compels action in response," the White House said in a statement in Washington.

The US and South Korean presidents also pledged to "seek and support a strong United Nations Security Council resolution with concrete measures to curtail North Korea's nuclear and missile activities."

Obama also called up Aso, the White House said, with the leaders agreeing to step up their coordination with South Korea, China and Russia. Obama also expressed the US commitment to defend Japan, it said.

Foreign ministers of 45 European and Asian countries also condemned the North's nuclear test in a statement adopted at the end of their two-day meeting on global economic crisis and climate change held in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

They reaffirmed "their support for the six-party talks (on North Korean nuclear issue) to seek early and verifiable denuclarisation of the Korean Peninsula," Kyodo news agency said quoting the statement issued on Tuesday. The ministers urged Pyongyang not to conduct any further nuclear test.

Meanwhile, South Korea, which had earlier stayed out of the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) to pursue reconciliation efforts with North Korea, dropped its inhibitions and announced it would join the pact.

North Korea previously warned the South that its joining the PSI would be considered a "declaration of war".

The PSI, launched in 2003 by then US president George W Bush, is an international effort to interdict the transfer of banned weapons and weapons technology.

South Korea has had observer status in the PSI, but the previous government had put off full membership in an apparent bid not to anger Pyongyang.

North Korea also accused the US of hostility and said its army and people are ready to defeat an American invasion.

"The current US administration is following in the footsteps of the previous Bush administration's reckless policy of militarily stifling North Korea," the North's state -run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary.

Last month, Pyongyang launched a rocket despite international calls for restraint, abandoned international nuclear negotiations, restarted its nuclear plants and warned it would carry out the atomic and long-range missile tests.