World Urges North Korean Restraint

North Korea triggered global alarm on Tuesday by saying it will conduct a nuclear test, a key step in the manufacture of atomic bombs that it views as a deterrent against any U.S. attack. But the North also said it was committed to nuclear disarmament, suggesting a willingness to negotiate.

The contradictory statement fits a North Korean pattern of ratcheting up tension on the Korean Peninsula, a Cold War-era flashpoint, in an attempt to win concessions such as economic aid.

The strategy has had mixed results in recent years as the totalitarian regime sinks deeper into isolation and poverty, with China serving as its lifeline for food and fuel.

Traveling with President Bush in Arizona Tuesday, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, said the White House released a statement saying: "The U.S. and its allies will exert every effort to persuade North Korea not to engage in such a provocative act — that would trigger an appropriate response from the U.S."

The White House gave no details about what it considered an "appropriate response" to a nuclear test by Pyonyang.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the announcement "a very provocative act" and urged Asian nations to rethink their relationships with North Korea.

Reaction from North Korea's neighbor's was mixed. South Korean officials appeared on television saying a nuclear armed North would "never be accepted."

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun called for a "cool-headed and stern" response, his office said.

But, stressing the fact that its neighbor to the north had not conducted the test yet, South Korea shipped previously promised flood relief aid to North Korea on Wednesday.

The goods, including 6,400 tons of cement, were shipped to the North Korean port of Nampo, said the Unification Ministry, which handles North Korean affairs.

"As North Korea has yet to conduct a nuclear test, it is difficult to immediately halt sending flood relief aid, which is being provided on a humanitarian basis," a ministry official said on condition of anonymity, citing official policy.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country would find it unacceptable if North Korea tested a nuclear weapon.

"The statement (made by North Korea) is extremely regrettable. Naturally, we simply could not accept it if North Korea were to conduct a nuclear test," Abe said in a statement broadcast on Japanese television.

China appealed to its communist ally to stay calm and show restraint.

Abe's office said he would hold summits with China on Oct. 8 and South Korea on Oct. 9. Roh's office said the South Korean president would head to Beijing to speak with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Oct. 13.

China is believed to be increasingly frustrated with North Korea's go-it-alone belligerence.

In Australia, Prime Minister John Howard called for a "maximum international response in a diplomatic way. This is a test for the United Nations."

A top South Korean security official said Wednesday that there had been no clear signs of an imminent nuclear test by North Korea, a news report said.