(Agencies)
Updated: 2006-10-09 11:37

North Korea said Monday it has performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test, which would confirm that the country has a working atomic bomb as it has long claimed.

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The country's official Korean Central News Agency said the underground test was performed successfully "with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent," and that no radioactive material leaked from that test site.

"The test is 100 percent safe," said the KCNA.

"It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the (Korean People's Army) and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability," KCNA said. "It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it."

South Korea's presidential Blue House said a tremor had been detected in North Korea on Monday.

It said South Korea's Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources had detected a tremor of a magnitude 3.58 to 3.7 at 0135 GMT.

The nuclear test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (0136 GMT) in Hwaderi near Kilju city, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing South Korean defense officials.

In Washington, US government officials said a wide range of agencies were looking into the report of the nuclear test, which officials were taking seriously. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun convened a meeting of security advisers over the issue.

The move came about a week after the country announced it would undertake an unprecedented nuclear test under the condition where safety is firmly guaranteed.

In a statement issued last Tuesday, the DPRK Foreign Ministry said it "will never use nuclear weapons first."

The October 3 announcement drew deep concerns of the international community.

The United Nations Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a presidential statement, urging the DPRK to return immediately to the six-party talks.

"The Security Council urges the DPRK to return immediately to the six-party talks without precondition, and to work toward the expeditious implementation of the September 19, 2005, Joint Statement, and in particular to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs," the statement said.

The test came amid intense diplomatic efforts aimed at heading off the move.

Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, arrived Monday in Seoul for meetings with President Roh Moo-hyun to address the nuclear issue as well as address strains in relations between Japan and South Korea over territorial and historical disputes.

Shen Jiru, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said: "It is expected, since they announced they would do it last week. It deals another severe blow to the current international nuclear non-proliferation regime. I personally feel it is very regrettable. The situation in Northeast Asia has become extremely complicated.

Speculation over a possible North Korean test arose earlier this year after US and Japanese reports cited suspicious activity at a suspected underground test site.

nothing to say the UN would have to take some action to crack down on North Korea