| Daily Times - Site Edition | Sunday, April 24, 2005 |
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US believes North Korea plans nuclear bomb test
WASHINGTON: The United States believes North Korea is planning to test a nuclear weapon and has asked China to intervene to block the test, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday on its website from South Korea. In an emergency communication sent yesterday, Washington warned Beijing that Pyongyang was possibly planning a test nuclear explosion, an unidentified US official told the Journal. The report comes after Pyongyang declared in February that it had nuclear weapons for self-defense. The Journal reported that the US told China it “believes the North Korean nuclear program is advanced enough that a test could come with little or no warning.” “It’s clear the North Koreans want the world to think that they are moving quickly and rapidly toward a nuclear test,” the official told the Journal. The official said that US spy satellites have detected increased activities at North Korean sites where underground nuclear tests could be carried out. afp