North Korea nuke test a “serious threat’ to US

Outgoing Pentagon chief Leon Panetta said North Korea’s third nuclear test is a “serious threat” to the US, even as he described it, along with Iran, as “rogue states.” North Korea gave advance warning of its intended test but did not say when exactly it would happen. It also said “even stronger” action might follow, as it was a response to what it branded as “reckless hostility of the United States.” According to the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, the nuclear test was twice as big as the 2009 test, which was in turn, bigger than the one in 2006. The UN Security Council strongly condemned the test and said it would begin work on measures against North Korea after it violated international law.

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A related story on the UN condemnation of the nuclear test is on BBC.