Rice: N. Korea Nuke Test 'Provocative'

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that a North Korean nuclear test would be "a very provocative act," and she prodded Asian nations to rethink their relationships with the North Koreans.

The top U.S. diplomat said the United States would have to assess its options should such a test be carried out, but she did not elaborate.

"It would be a very provocative act by the North Koreans," Rice said at a press conference in Cairo during a Middle East tour. "They have not yet done it, but it would be a very provocative act."

Rice's warning reflected widespread concern within the administration of President George W. Bush. She stressed, however, that a North Korean test was an issue "for the entire neighborhood" and not just for the United States.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said other countries should join in pressing Pyongyang to avoid testing.

A test "would be directly contrary to the interests of all of North Korea's neighbors and to peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region," Perino said in a written statement.

In remarks apparently directed primarily at China and South Korea, Rice said a test would mean "that you would see that a number of states in the region would need to reassess where they are now with North Korea."

The United States long has urged China, North Korea's main ally, to exert more pressure on Kim Jong Il's reclusive government to return to stalled diplomatic talks about his nuclear weapons program.

South Korea is a key U.S. ally but often tries to smooth over rhetorical and other disputes between Washington and Pyongyang.

The North said Tuesday that it would conduct a test in the face of what it claimed was "the U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war."

"North Korea's statement effectively forces the Security Council to take up the issue, even though the six-party negotiations have been conducted outside the U.N. since the time Pyongyang withdrew from the International Atomic Energy Agency," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk.

"North Korea's brinkmanship is making everyone nervous and there is precious little leverage unless China and Russia agree to take further steps," Falk added.

That announcement ratchets up pressure to lure Pyongyang back to international efforts to persuade Kim to scrap his nuclear program. The communist-led nation alarmed the world when it test-fired seven missiles in July, including one believed capable of reaching the United States.

Despite North Korea's vow to test, Japanese spy satellites have so far not observed any activity that might be linked to preparations for a possible nuclear test at a suspected North Korean underground test site, the Asahi newspaper reported, citing unidentified government sources.

In Washington, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's special adviser on national security, Yuriko Koike, met with Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and her counterpart at the White House, Stephen Hadley.

Koike told reporters after her meeting with Burns that North Korea's announcement was regrettable. She said the United States and Japan agreed that the international community must band together and demand that North Korea not conduct a test.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said the Security Council should embark on "preventive diplomacy" and not just a "knee-jerk reaction" to the North Korean threat.

Pyongyang has said that it has nuclear weapons, but it has not conducted any known test to prove its claim.

Many experts believe the North has enough radioactive material to build at least a half-dozen or more nuclear weapons.

"They are an active proliferator," said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "And were they to test, and were they then to proliferate those technologies, we'd be living with a proliferator, and obviously we'd be living in a somewhat different world."

The United States has indicated in recent weeks that it was stepping up efforts to break a nearly yearlong impasse on the talks.

Chris Hill, the chief U.S. envoy to the North Korea talks, said last week that negotiators were entering a "crucial phase" and spoke of a "certain sense of urgency" involved in efforts to resume negotiations that include both Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.

Robert Einhorn, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation, said the North's comments should be taken seriously.

"They often don't bluff. They tell you what they're going to do, and then they do it," said Einhorn, now an analyst at the Center for International and Strategic Studies. "It's a reflection of their frustration, that their previous provocations haven't had the desired effect of getting the U.S. to talk with them bilaterally or getting the U.S. and the others to make further concessions."

The North has pushed for direct talks with the United States, which Washington refuses to do outside the framework of the stalled disarmament talks. Since November, the North has boycotted the talks over U.S. financial restrictions imposed for its alleged illegal activity, including money laundering and counterfeiting.

South Korea said Wednesday it won't tolerate North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons.

"We express grave concern and regret," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Choo Kyu-ho. "We reaffirm that we won't tolerate North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons."