North Korea: Nuclear test is part of a dangerous balancing act

Pyongyang has carried out its third nuclear test, provoking angry criticism across the western world. The UN Security Council has condemned the move in strong terms after calling an emergency session. 

The detonation of a nuclear device in the far northeast of the Korean peninsula shortly before midday local time on Tuesday comes as little surprise to other governments, both near and far. Since the blast, which was measured as a magnitude 5.1 underground tremor, officials from Tokyo to Washington and London to Seoul have been quick to repeat their condemnations of a regime that has carried out two previous atomic tests and in December launched a rocket based on ballistic missile technology.

Those harsh words and existing sanctions have not had the effect of moderating North Korea's behavior, however. Not even strongly worded warnings from Beijing - which is Pyongyang's sole meaningful international ally - have had any impact on its belligerent neighbor.

The key questions are what the North wants of the international community and what might be done to reign in an increasingly unpredictable and isolated - yet well-armed - dictatorship.

"North Korea is attempting to strengthen its status as a nuclear-armed state and these actions follow the steps the regime there took in 2006 and 2009," said Professor Hiroyasu Akutsu, a North Korea analyst at the National Institute of Defense Studies in Tokyo, referring to the previous nuclear tests conducted by the North.

"In both cases, they carried out missile launches that were condemned internationally and then they went ahead with nuclear tests about one month later," he pointed out. "This test comes exactly two months after the North successfully launched a rocket into space."


Read more: Nuclear test is part of a dangerous balancing act | Asia | DW.DE | 12.02.2013