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If this isn't the right spot to post this, Mods move it please.
CTV.ca News Staff
North Korea declared Tuesday that it will be conducting its first-ever nuclear test in response to what it called increasing U.S. hostility.
"The DPRK will in the future conduct a nuclear test under the condition where safety is firmly guaranteed," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"The U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel the DPRK to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering nuclear deterrent, as a corresponding measure for defense."
The statement, which gave no precise date of when a test might occur, was immediately condemned by Japan as "totally unforgivable".
North Korea's announcement ended weeks of rumours that the Communist state was planning a test and came amid increasingly strained relations with the outside world after it test-fired missiles in July.
The United Nations imposed sanctions and South Korea suspended aid after the North test-fired seven missiles -- including a long-range Taepodong-2 believed to be capable of reaching Alaska.
Pyongyang has faced mounting pressure over its nuclear program. It is thought to have a handful of warheads but is not known to have tested one.
China, North Korea's neighbour, ally and chief benefactor, had no immediate comment, the Associated Press reported.
The North Korean announcement appeared to have caught Chinese officials off-guard, coming in the midst of a week-long National Day holiday.
Meanwhile, South Korean security officials met Tuesday to discuss a response to North Korea's statement. Government spokesman Yoon Tae-young said the result of the meeting, attended by senior government officials in charge of national security, would be issued soon.
Multilateral talks on the North's nuclear program have been stalled for almost a year.
Pyongyang boycotted the six-nation talks to protest U.S. financial restrictions imposed for its alleged illegal activity, including money laundering and counterfeiting.
The North said Tuesday that its ultimate goal is "to settle hostile relations between the DPRK and the U.S. and to remove the very source of all nuclear threats from the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity," accusing the U.S. of posing a nuclear threat in the region.
"The U.S. daily increasing threat of a nuclear war and its vicious sanctions and pressure have caused a grave situation on the Korean peninsula in which the supreme interests and security of our state are seriously infringed upon and the Korean nation stands at the crossroads of life and death," the North Korean statement continued.
A successful nuclear test would likely put pressure on Japan and South Korea to develop their own nuclear capabilities.