US military aircraft and monitoring centers scrambled yesterday to determine the size and type of the weapon that North Korea detonated in what is believed to be the reclusive regime's first test of a nuclear bomb.
Russian diplomats believe it is now "highly probable" that North Korea will officially join the nuclear club by carrying out its first underground test of an atomic device.
An effort to develop cooperative seismic monitoring of the Indian Ocean to prevent a repeat of last year's Tsunami is being held up by Indian concerns that the data could reveal too much about their nuclear weapons testing program.
The U.S. Senate has increased funding for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) which will boost the existing international network of nuclear monitoring devices (IMS).
White House and Pentagon officials have been closely monitoring a stream of satellite photographs of North Korea that appear to show rapid, extensive preparations for a nuclear weapons test, including the construction of an official reviewing stand, presumably for President Kim Jong Il.
U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that North Korea may be preparing its first test of a nuclear weapon, though they warn that the information is sketchy and not definitive.
Linton F. Brooks, the director of the U.S. nuclear weapons programs, has proposed that Congress approve funds to study the feasibility of building a new, more reliable nuclear warhead that could be deployed without nuclear testing in less than 10 years.
The United States should again be a leader in arms control and disarmament and ratify a global test ban treaty to encourage other nuclear powers to do so according to Hans Blix, the former head of the U.N. weapons inspection team in Iraq.
Experts say that the recent disclosure that a large explosion in North Korea was not a nuclear test shows that the world's system for detecting clandestine nuclear tests is working, but it could be improved if more countries signed a treaty that proposes outlawing all such weapons testing.
The UN Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, using a global network of seismic, infrasound, hydroacoustic and radiation monitoring stations was able to determine that a recent explosion in North Korea was not a nuclear test.