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North Korea Says it Tested a Nuclear Device; President Bush: Test Claim Only Raises Tensions; U.N. Security Council Holds Emergency Talks

Aired October 09, 2006 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Words the world did want to hear: North Korea reports its underground test of a nuclear weapon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Once again, North Korea has defied the will of the international community, and the international community will respond.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Reaction is swift as Pyongyang's opponents and its allies, too, condemn the move.

CHURCH: Fears of a chain reaction. Could North Korea's test trigger a regional arms race?

FRAZIER: And on the front lines in Afghanistan. Wild new images highlight the dangers for British troops as they engage in close combat with the Taliban.

Hello, everyone. And welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.

I'm Stephen Frazier.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church.

From Pyongyang, to Washington, to Kabul, wherever you are watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Hello, everyone.

Well, North Korea calls its first nuclear weapons test an historic event conducted with "indigenous wisdom and technology".

FRAZIER: But the world is calling it a brazen, provocative act, one that threatens peace and stability across the region and around the globe.

CHURCH: The U.N. Security Council condemned the move and will discuss appropriate measures. The U.S. and Britain are both calling for sanctions. FRAZIER: Japan's prime minister is warning of the dawn of a dangerous nuclear age. China, Pyongyang's longtime ally, also strongly criticized the test and demanded a return to disarmament talks.

CHURCH: The official Korean Central News Agency reports there was no leak or danger from its underground test.

FRAZIER: The U.S. Geological Survey confirms that a 4.2 magnitude quake did register in the region at 01:35 GMT.

CROWLEY: While Russia confirms the blast was a nuclear explosion, its foreign ministry called in North Korea's ambassador and warned him the test could provoke a nuclear arms race in northeast Asia. President Vladimir Putin condemned the move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russia definitely denounces the test conducted by North Korea. And this is not just a question of Korea itself. It is a question of the enormous damage done to the process of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: From Seoul to Tokyo, CNN has reporters across the region and reaction today from across the globe. But we're going to begin our coverage along the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas.

North Korea has long boasted of its nuclear program, and last week it announced its plans to test a nuclear weapon, citing U.S. hostility, U.S. pressure.

CNN's Dan Rivers has just visited the DMZ, the very heavily guarded buffer zone, and he filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In a surreal TV moment, this was North Korea's newscaster cheerfully telling her compatriots the army had just detonated a nuclear bomb in an underground test.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We carried out a safe and successful test. There is no leak or danger from this test. The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and 100 percent DPRK technology. It marks an historic event.

RIVERS: Kim Jong-il had already warned they were planning a nuclear detonation, but when it came, it still sent political shockwaves around the world. Regional reaction was swift.

China warned of the detonation by the North Koreans 20 minutes before it occurred, said it was "resolutely opposed" to the test. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was in Seoul, meeting South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun, almost at exactly the moment the blast occurred far to the north.

SHINZO ABE, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We must make sure we send a clear message to North Korea, and we have to take stringent measures for them to understand that point.

ROH MOO-HYUN, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): What North Korea's done is breaking the trust of the international society. Our government will take care of this in a fast and a very clear and cut way.

RIVERS: Analysts are worried North Korea poses a much more menacing threat.

JUNG-HOON LEE, YONSEI UNIVERSITY: I think it's very dangerous, because, first of all, North Korea is the so-call "rogue state". And if we look at the track record of the Pyongyang regime, all its done in dealing with the outside world is threaten the so-called brinkmanship. And now it has the ultimate weapon, the nuclear weapon.

RIVERS: Tensions in the region had been building with North Korea firing a number of long-range rockets. The last failed launch was in July.

Six-party talks that included the United States and were aimed at preventing North Korea from going nuclear now appear to be in tatters. And observers are worried about the risk of proliferation by the North Koreans.

PETER BECK, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: They have a track record for selling what they can get their hands on, even if it's other people's drugs or their own, counterfeit currency, missiles to the Middle East. So I see no reason to trust them not to sell nuclear material to the wrong party.

RIVERS (on camera): This observation post is one of a handful of places that you can actually get a glimpse into North Korea. Down here is the Demilitarized Zone, the no man's land that is strewn full of mines and has been deserted since 1953, the end of the Korean War. And just beyond is North Korea itself.

This is the last front line in the Cold War, a front line that now has global significance.

(voice over): There's no suggestion that the two million soldiers camped on either side of the Demilitarized Zone are being prepared for conflict. But now the South Koreans know their northern neighbor has become a nuclear power, a dictator with a weapon of mass destruction. Once the world worried that frightening combination was brewing in Iraq. Now, its become a reality in North Korea.

Dan Rivers, CNN, on the border of North and South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Well, back in the United States, the White House is condemning the North Korean test in strong terms.

We want to go to Kathleen Koch now for the very latest.

Kathleen, what all has been said?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, the president in very tough terms condemning this test -- excuse me, this test -- calling it a "provocative act," saying that it deserves an immediate response from the United Nations Security Council. President Bush this morning explained that he spoke with the other members of the six-nation talks that were under way until North Korea walked away from them last November. He spoke with the leaders of Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, and they agree that this terrorist was "unacceptable".

The president insisted that such an action will only serve to hurt the already suffering citizens of North Korea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Threats will not lead to a brighter future for the North Korean people, nor weaken the resolve of the United States and our allies to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Today's claim by North Korea serves only to raise tensions, while depriving the people of the increased prosperity and better relations with the world offered by the implementation of the joint statement of the six-party talks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: That statement from President Bush this morning dispelling any speculation that the United States might as a result of this test decide to capitulate and agree to one-on-one talks with North Korea that it has long refused. The Bush administration still insisting that the way forward, the way to peace for North Korea is to return to those six-nation talks.

Right now, all eyes are on the U.N. Security Council, where the U.S. is pushing very hard this afternoon for sanctions against North Korea that could include cutting off energy supplies, cutting off trade with North Korea. Both of those right now largely supplied by South Korea and by China.

Also talk of possibly intercepting or inspecting sea shipments in and out of the region. That, a much more intrusive, controversial measure, not as likely to garner as much support. But still, the belief here is that the U.S. does have substantial support for some form of sanctions -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right.

Kathleen Koch reporting there.

And, of course, we will go to our Richard Roth very soon and get an idea on how the U.N. Security Council is responding to this -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: First, though, Rosemary, let's get a sense of how big this blast was. Seismologists in Australia say it was about on kiloton. That's the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT. Russia, though, says it was much bigger, between five and 15 kilotons. And to give some perspective on this, the bomb that the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 measured 12 kilotons.

Earlier, we spoke with a former United Nations weapons inspector about the nature of the test.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ALBRIGHT, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: If North Korea got in the range of five to 15 kilotons, that's quite a respectable fission weapon -- or device, I should say. And this is not a weapon that was detonated underground. It was a device.

It doesn't look like a weapon. It's still a nuclear explosion, and it's -- and to go from the explosion detonated under ground to a weaponized device is fairly straightforward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: If this is confirmed, North Korea will become the eighth confirmed current member of the nuclear club. The United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India and Pakistan are all members. Israel is thought to posses nuclear weapons but has never admitted so publicly. And South Africa did develop six nuclear weapons but dismantled them and became a champion of nonproliferation in the '90s.

Now, though, to Russia, and what the former Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, is calling a true political homicide, a vendetta.

CHURCH: And what he's referring to there is the murder of a top investigative journalist. And that tops our check of other stories making news this hour.

The newspaper where the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya worked is offering a $1 million reward for leads in her murder. Her reports had been critical of Russian policies. President Vladimir Putin is now promising to make every effort to investigate her murder. He had been silent about the Saturday killing right up until now.

FRAZIER: The man in charge of the police mess hall where hundreds of Iraqi police fell ill has been arrested. A hospital official in Kut says seven policemen died right away, 700 others have been sickened. Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is ordering an investigation into the case. The police were breaking their daily Ramadan fast on Sunday when the mass illness erupted.

CHURCH: Well, an historic meeting over tea and scones. That could signify movement in northern Ireland politics. Protestant hardliner Ian Paisley met for the first time Monday with the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland. It came ahead of crucial talks aimed at reviving power sharing in the province. Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party represents most of the loyalist Protestant majority in northern Ireland.

FRAZIER: And here we take a break. When we come back, more on the North Korean test.

CHURCH: And we'll go live to the United Nations, where a draft proposal calling for sanctions is already under discussion.

And later, it's the scandal in Washington that just won't go away. We'll have the latest on former congressman Mark Foley and the political firestorm that he started.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm worried about a war. Many people will be killed with a war. It will be a nuclear war. I am worried. My family -- I'm worried about the war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Because North Korea forced the nuclear test, our country is going to be very insecure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: Welcome back. You are watching YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.

Some reaction there from South Korea to news that the north carried out an underground nuclear test.

Many analysts say this test shows a major failure in Chinese diplomatic efforts with North Korea. It is Pyongyang's closest ally and its biggest trading partner, but even China has come down hard on the regime now for conducting a nuclear test.

Jaime FlorCruz has more from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF (voice over): In the days before, a flurry of diplomatic activity. Tough words from the U.N. Security Council and leaders around the world.

Chinese president Hu Jintao and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe issued a joint warning: a nuclear test my North Korea could never been tolerated. Still, North Korea turned a deaf ear, announcing it had conducted its first nuclear test.

So, where did diplomacy fail? China has hosted the six-party talks, playing a mediator's role, as North Korea's biggest supplier of food and energy. But even China could do nothing to stop the north from conducting a test, despite receiving a 20-minute warning from Pyongyang, according to U.S. officials. Some say that's because China's policy to North Korea is weak and incoherent. RUSSELL MOSES, POLITICAL ANALYST: Beijing itself can't agree on what exactly its policy towards the DPRK should be. You have a whole variety of analysts, elites and others who have been looking at the situation and who don't really have a clear idea of what would work.

FLORCRUZ: Others say China's influence on North Korea is simply overblown.

YAN XUETONG, POLITICAL ANALYST: China's leverage on North Korea based on -- it's a kind of a security supporter and a political supporter, and economic aid. But now when China no longer provides that kind of support for North Korea, the influence also declines.

FLORCRUZ: Now China is taking a harder line, saying it resolutely opposes such a "brazen act," the strongest language yet from China. But harsh words cannot reverse North Korea's course. Now its a matter of how to deal with a nuclear North Korea.

MOSES: I think that the world has got to assume after a North Korean nuclear test that there's no turning back from this. And I think that regrettably, many of the countries within the area are simply going to live with that fact.

FLORCRUZ (on camera): The six-party talks have been stalled for a year, and Pyongyang wants nothing short of bilateral talks with the U.S. Despite diplomatic shortfalls, Beijing still hopes dialogue will save the day.

Jaime FlorCruz, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: As the world reacts to a nuclear North Korea, what, if anything, can be done now about Pyongyang's provocative actions? The United Nations Security Council is locked in emergency session to consider that question.

Our senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth, has been standing by.

A flurry of activity, Richard. What's the latest?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Security Council has ended its discussions on North Korea for now. So-called legal experts will now pore over a resolution that the United States hopes the rest of the council can agree to. And they've moved on to other issues.

Right now, the United States ambassador, John Bolton, is pushing hard for adoption of a resolution that would broaden sanctions against North Korea in response to the nuclear blast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMB. TO U.N.: The entire discussion in which all 15 council members participated took only 30 minutes. And that's remarkable in the Security Council, as some of you may know, to have a unanimous condemnation of the North Korean test. No one defended it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The United Nations Security Council did criticize in a statement and condemn the North Korean act and warned North Korea not to do it again. Of course, on Friday, the council did the very same action and North Korea still went ahead with its nuclear test.

The ambassador from North Korea is not part of those discussions. North Korea is not a member of the Security Council, and its representatives are not seen that often around the Security Council chamber even when its country is being discussed.

You see here the ambassador, Pak Gil Yon, walking from the North Korean mission to the U.N., directly to U.N. headquarters, where he has had some private discussions. Earlier, the ambassador said instead of condemning Pyongyang, the Security Council should be praising the scientists of North Korea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAK GIL YON, NORTH KOREAN AMB. TO U.N.: Testing was so successful today, and this will be great contribution (ph) in maintaining and guaranteeing the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Diplomats say that U.S. Ambassador Bolton told the Security Council that a North Korean attack on Japan or South Korea would be regarded as an attack on the United States. The council is hoping to get something adopted quickly, maybe a two-stage process, Stephen.

You know, the statement we've heard, and now they've moved to some sort of resolution. Timing unknown, though.

FRAZIER: Well, the first part of that is no news, Richard. I mean, those two countries, north and south, still at war, officially. There's only a truce. Not an end to that war.

But let's talk about the sanctions. I mean, how much more can they do? What we're reading here is they just will, you know, put a sanction on trade of materials that could be used for weapons.

ROTH: That's right, and maybe a travel ban, asset freezes. We've heard this before with other countries. And if it will make a difference with the erratic North Korea regime, a very open question.

China's ambassador criticizing the actions of North Korea, but also saying the door must still be left open to diplomacy, along with a firm response to this action. The U.S. has run into trouble, as you know, with China and Russia when sanctioning a country, though North Korea, both countries are, in effect, saying went over the line this time. But we'll have to see the fine print. The U.S. was shopping this resolution, or the basic outline in the days leading up to the blast, knowing, in effect, that it was coming and wanting to go over with key countries on the council, the resolution ahead of time.

FRAZIER: Which helps explain the speedy passage today.

Richard Roth at the United Nations.

Thank you, Richard.

CHURCH: All right. Keeping our eyes on many other stories. It has been temporarily eclipsed by the North Korean nuclear threat.

FRAZIER: Not completely, though. In the United States there's a story that just won't go away.

CHURCH: New developments as a scandal in the Congress just keeps rolling on.

FRAZIER: And from NATO, a warning that Afghanistan is at a tipping point right now. But in which direction will it go? A surprising assessment from the commander of NATO forces there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes. But first, a check on stories making headlines in the United States now.

Outrage around the world after North Korea claims to have carried out a nuclear test. Here is what we know right now.

The reclusive communist country may have made good on that threat. North Korea says it conducted an underground nuclear test today. That claim immediately met with criticism from around the world.

The United States, Japan, South Korea, Britain among the countries weighing in. They are all condemning North Korea.

President Bush says a nuclear test by the communist country is unacceptable. He wants an immediate response from the U.N. The issue a major current for the United Nations Security Council as it meets today.

Here's a little bit more of what President Bush had to say about the North Korean nuclear issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Threats will not lead to a brighter future for the North Korean people, nor weaken the resolve of the United States and our allies to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Today's claim by North Korea serves only to raise tensions, while depriving the North Korean people of the increased prosperity and better relations with the world offered by the implementation of the joint statement of the six-party talks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: North Korea pulled out of the talks on its nuclear ambitions about one year ago.

North Korea defies the U.S., the U.N., and even China. "AC 360" takes a look at the fallout and what could happen next. Plus, go under cover in the secret state for a brutal look at life inside North Korea. That's tonight beginning at 10:00 Eastern, only on CNN.

Other news now.

Checking developments surrounding former Florida congressman Mark Foley. Today's "Washington Post" reports Congressman Jim Kolbe knew about Foley's inappropriate Internet messages back in 2000. "The Post" says a former page showed Kolbe the messages and Kolbe personally confronted Foley.

Also, a former Foley aide is expected to go before the House Ethics Committee this week. An attorney for Kirk Fordham says Fordham expects to tell the panel this: that House Speaker Dennis Hastert's chief of staff knew of Foley's conduct in 2003. That aide, Scott Palmer, has denied Fordham's account.

Yet another shooting inside a school. This time in Joplin, Missouri.

School officials say a 13-year-old boy walked into a middle school and fired an AK-47 into the ceiling. No one was injured. Administrators talked the boy into going outside, where he was met by police officers.

Police say a note in the student's backpack indicated he had placed an explosive inside the school. They are now looking for it. The boy is in custody.

Church bells ringing today in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, marking the sad news. One week ago today, five Amish girls shot to death inside the schoolhouse. The bell ringing coincided with the moment Charles Roberts stormed the school and began his deadly assault. Five other girls were wounded.

First, spinach, and now new concerns this morning about lettuce and beef. Foxy brand lettuce is being recalled in several western states because of possible E. coli contamination. It was grown in the same area as the tainted spinach that's suspected in the deaths of three people.

If you live in one of these seven states, you should take the lettuce back to the store for a refund, or just throw it out. This comes days after an Iowa company recalled 5,200 pounds of ground beef from the market, but it is believed most of that meat has already been eaten. So far, no reports of illness from the lettuce or the beef.

You can find more information on this on our Web site, CNN.com.

Rob Marciano joining us now with the very latest on the weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Stay with CNN for developments and reaction to North Korea's nuclear test claim. We'll have the very latest in the "NEWSROOM" beginning at 1:00 Eastern.

YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Heidi Collins.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

CHURCH: Well, the United States is trying to confirm North Korea's claim. It could take several days before intelligence can determine the actual extent of that test.

Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us live.

Barbara, can we get some sort of idea of just how big this was?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, right now, the U.S. intelligence community isn't really exactly sure what has happened, other than they believe some sort of test has occurred in North Korea. One intelligence analyst saying to us, it may simply be several hundred tons of explosives that were set off.

So let's take that piece of information first. If it was several hundred tons of explosives, that were registered on those seismic sensors, it is going to be very difficult for the intelligence community to determine if this test in northeastern North Korea was actually a nuclear test or just some test of conventional explosives. Such a small test, it becomes very difficult to tell. That is the first thing they're going to be looking at.

One analyst also describing it as the possibility of more fizzle than pop. They simply don't know at this point. What they're looking for is something that's called dual phenomonology (ph), sensor data from two entire different kinds of sensors that will confirm to them if it was a nuclear event. So they have the seismic. What they're also looking at now is some of the other sensors. They have data that they say will take them about 72 hours to process, to see if there actually is any type of radioactive emissions in the air.

Now, North Korea already saying that there was no radioactive release from this test, but that may simply setting the ground for some sort of ambiguity here about whether or not there was an actual nuclear test by North Korea, whether it was a test that simply didn't go very well, and that's why there's no clear reading, whether if it was deliberately a very small test, so they didn't use up their fissile material, or whether there was some big spoof here, and there was some type of deceptive practice by North Korea to keep the U.S. from figuring out exactly what transpired -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: And, Barbara, that's the critical issue here, isn't it, whether it is conventional weapons or whether we are dealing with nuclear weaponry here. Will we truly ever know definitively, though?

STARR: It may be the case that we won't. That's what intelligence analysts appear now to be saying. If they can get a clear reading, a clear understanding that there was some type of radioactive event, some type of nuclear event, then, we'll know.

But here's the thing, Rosemary, going back to this notion, the U.S. intelligence community making it clear today, they believe this is what they call a sub-kiloton event. Less than 1,000 pounds of explosives. And when it's less than a thousand pounds, it's very hard on those seismic sensors to tell what the reading really is, whether it's a nuclear event or some other type of conventional explosive.

So what did North Korea actually do? It's going to be very tough to tell again. Was it a small test? Was it a test gone bad? Or did North Korea simply, once again, try to fool the world?

CHURCH: All right, interesting analysis there. Barbara Starr, our Pentagon correspondent, thanks so much.

STARR: Sure.

FRAZIER: Well, whether it's real or not at this point, some of the international community fear that North Korea's claims of a test will trigger an arm's race in the neighborhood.

Atika Shubert has that part of the story from Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After North Korea's nuclear test, weapons proliferation experts fear its just a matter of time before others in the region follow suit.

JOE CIRINCIONE, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: What we're worried about is this nuclear-reaction chain now spreading through the region, not immediately, but over the next few months.

SHUBERT: Analysts believe Pyongyang may have enough fissile material for six or more nuclear weapons, but its capability to deliver a nuclear payload is still in doubt. Nonetheless, North Korea has tested several long-range missiles, including one that flew over Japan. Both Japan and South Korea have previously turned away from the idea of going nuclear, trusting instead in the security umbrella provided by U.S. forces stationed in both countries. Japanese officials say that policy hasn't changed in the immediate aftermath of the North Korean test. But North Korea's belligerent behavior may push both countries to a reassessment. Japan is in a particularly good position to pursue a nuclear weapon's program quickly. It already has a stockpile of plutonium from its nuclear energy plants, and experts say it wouldn't take long to convert that into a nuclear arsenal.

CIRINCIONE: What's South Korea going to do? A country that used to have a nuclear weapons program that U.S. pressure convinced them to end in the '70s. Taiwan, similarly, had a weapons program we convinced them to end. Japan is sitting on 10 tons of plutonium that have reprocessed for their reactors. They can make a nuclear weapon within months of a decision to do so. They've been very irritated that India, as seen to get nuclear status, now getting blessed by the United States. Now to have North Korea have a nuclear weapon, I believe you're going to see a lot more discussion in Japan about whether they should recalculate their nuclear options, and of course, meanwhile, you have Iran watching this very closely. If North Korea gets away with this, this will encourage Iran to continue with its program. This is the nuclear-reaction chain you've got to stop before it gets out of control.

SHUBERT: Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was visiting South Korea when the news broke. He called for harsh measures against the north, but did not specify. In office for barely a month, he is seen as a hawk, arguing for Japan to develop the ability to deliver preemptive strikes.

(no camera): North Korea has thrown down the gauntlet. Now Japan and others in the region must decide, will they respond with restraint? Or will they feel compelled to build nuclear arsenals of their own.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: All right. We do want to get some analysis now on the test and what the world might do in response.

Mike Chinoy covered Asian affairs for years for CNN as our Beijing bureau chief. He's now with the Pacific Council of International Policy in Los Angeles.

Great to see you again, Mike.

Of course it's understandable that North Korea's neighbors are pretty unnerved by this claim from North Korea that it's tested this nuclear weapon. What do they need to do next?

MIKE CHINOY, FMR. CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, This test puts everybody in a very, very tough spot. It's particularly difficult for the Chinese and the South Koreans. The Chinese and the South Koreans have been the most vocal proponents of engaging North Korea. South Korea has provided aide. It's encouraged investment in tourism. It's been sharply at odds with the Bush administration, which wants to take a much tougher approach to North Korea.

The Chinese, too, have been supplying North Korea with a large proportion of their food and their fuel. Beijing invested a huge amount of its prestige diplomatically in getting these six-party talks under way three years ago. The Chinese have consistently urged the United States to look toward dialogue with North Korea.

But now, the North Koreans have not only ignored warnings from the United States and from Japan, which have been the more tough- minded on this issue, but from the South Koreans and from the Chinese. And so, the Chinese are going to have to decide what to do. The initial signals are that Beijing is angry. The Chinese government described the test as brazen.

But the real challenge for China will come if it gets to a point of sanctions. How far will the Chinese be prepared to go? And they're going to have to weigh very carefully the calculation between pressing North Korea to back down and not pressing so far that North Korea collapses or implodes, because China, as the neighboring country, stands to lose a great deal, both in terms of refugees, in terms of internal chaos. And there's the broader concern, if there was a collapse in North Korea, who would actually controls all that nuclear material.

CHURCH: Mike, if it is confirmed that this is a nuclear test, and not, as we heard from Barbara Starr, the possibility of conventional weapons being exploded, then, what all has North Korea achieved? Certainly when, as you say, its isolating its one strong ally, China.

CHINOY: Well, I was talking to somebody who spent nearly three decades in U.S. intelligence following North Korea, who said that his calculation was that the North Koreans strategically have played this out like a billiard game, they have studied and analyzed where they think the various balls will end up, and they know exactly what they are doing.

The North Korean calculation seems to be at this point, as follows. They feel under threat, especially from the United States. They watched what happened in Iraq, with the toppling of Saddam Hussein. They've seen the Bush administration talk about its notion of regime change and preemptive strikes against so-called rogue states. They've also seen the United States as being unwilling to really engage in the kind of negotiating and horse trading that Pyongyang in the past has offered, being willing to put its nuclear and missile programs on the table in return for a price, albeit big one, from Washington.

So they have essentially written off that kind of diplomacy, and decided in the interest of their own security, that they are now going to end all ambiguity, make it clear that they are a nuclear power, and essentially force the world to live with it. Their calculation appears to be that they can tough out whatever firestorm of pressure comes internationally. At the end of the day, the world will be forced to deal with them as a nuclear state.

CHURCH: All right, Mike Chinoy, thanks for your analysis. Great to talk to you and see you again. Thanks so much.

FRAZIER: Coming up, new intensity in the fight for Afghanistan.

CHURCH: British soldiers under siege. We'll show you their own video, straight from the frontlines. That's after the break.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: Welcome back. Seen live in more than 200 countries across the globe, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

NATO's commander in Afghanistan says the country is now at a tipping point and it may tip away from coalition forces if the lives of the Afghan people don't improve soon. General David Richards is leading NATO's 32,000-member force in Afghanistan. And with Taliban attacks and violence on the rise, he says he understands the frustration felt by civilians, and he had this surprising assessment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID RICHARDS, NATO COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN: By this time next year I would understand if a lot of Afghans, down in the south in particular, said to us all, listen, you're failing year after year in delivering the improvements which you have promised to us. If you don't do something about it, that 70 percent will start saying, come on, we'd rather have the Taliban.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: General Richards is calling for more troops, and resources and better financial flexibility.

CHURCH: So, just what does the intense fighting look like? well, troops with the British parachute regiment have shot some of their footage. They're showing how hard it is to fight with serious equipment shortages.

Neil Connery brings their frightening images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEIL CONNERY, ITV REPORTER (voice-over): This is how British forces on the frontline see the battle in Afghanistan. These pictures were filmed by serving soldiers in the parachute regiment and given to ITV News.

The mission in Afghanistan facing more questions about why we are there and how well our troops are equipped for the conflict. This is the parachute regimen in close combat with the Taliban, an enemy that has proved far more resilient than many had expected. The pictures show British soldiers under siege, forced to call in airstrikes that within yards of their fortified compounds. Their commander officer has called for more helicopters. This attack shows how crucial the need is. Four Chinooks deliver a force for a surprise attack. Two have been borrowed from the Americans.

The first troops to be dropped have to guard the landing site while the helicopters return to base to bring in the second wave of soldiers. NATO's top commander says more troops are needed in Afghanistan.

RICHARDS: We're at, if you like, at a tipping point. I think, with a bit more effort, and a bit more joined-up approach, and spending our money more flexibly and freely ,with less ties attached to how we do it, then next year it could be much better.

CONNERY: The prime minister has promised that commanders will get whatever equipment they need in their fight against the Taliban.

Neil Connery, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Now, to Russia, where a leading newspaper is offering a million-dollar reward for any information that would help to track down the killers of one of its journalists. Anna Politkovskaya was an outspoken critic of government policies in Chechnya. She had made some powerful enemies, and was rumored to be preparing a series of reports from Chechnya.

Matthew Chance has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Grainy images of a man police say could be the killer of one of the Kremlin's most outspoken critics. Captured on closed-circuit television cameras, few believe he was anything more than a hired gone.

Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent Russian journalist, was found slumped in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building, shot four times in the head and chest. Prosecutors say it looks like a contract killing, linked to her work. A determined investigative reporter and a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, Anna made powerful enemies. Her reporting of Russia's war in Chechnya was relentless. She was one of the only independent Russian journalists who continued to travel there, exposing human rights abuses despite the risks.

"Each time I return from Chechnya, I appreciate my life," she says. "I love my life, because it can be finished at any time."

On occasion, Anna stepped outside the role of journalist, negotiating with Chechnyan militants, who took hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theater in 2002. In 2004, during the Beslan school siege, she believed she had been poisoned to prevent her from covering what turned out to be a fiasco with more than 130 killed.

As a mother of two, she spent time outside Russia to protect her family from death threats. She often spoke to colleagues about what she believed was the official campaign of intimidation against her.

PAVEL FELGENHAUER, JOURNALIST: Russia is an authoritarian, aggressive leadership where people who are trying to write real journalism are constantly under threat.

CHANCE: But 'till the end, Anna continued to report. Her recent work was sharply critical of the Kremlin-backed administration in Chechnya, and the militia controlled by its controversial prime minister.

(on camera): The tributes are pouring in for Anna Politkovskaya, a woman of enormous courage in a country where as she often reported, the powerful operate above the law. As journalist who tried to hold the powerful to account, she knew very well the risks that she was taking. But she had a passionate belief in her duty not to give in, a belief that eventually cost her life. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: When we return, more reaction to the developments in North Korea.

CHURCH: But, enough of what highly placed officials think. We're going to read some of your e-mails, get your thoughts on the situation. Please stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: Well for quite awhile now, you've been e-mailing your thoughts on North Korea's nuclear test and what the next steps should be.

CHURCH: You have. And this is what some of you are saying all around the world.

Jacques from France writes: "This is the biggest defiance the world has faced since the missile crisis in 1961. A golden opportunity for Iran to push their program forward and for Islamist radicals to buy their way into nuclear games. The people of North Korea might have to suffer the consequences of a long-lasting blockade."

Michael in the United States says: "Was anyone else thinking weak when they heard President Bush's speech this morning? There was no call to China that they would be held responsible for North Korea's actions. There was no strong support for Japan and there was no call to South Korea to stop blaming the United States for increased tensions and realize that their true enemy lies to the north."

And a completely different view, Soh from Singapore writes: "The North Koreans have done the right thing. Since the end of the Korean War, they have been subjected to hostilities from the United States and other Western powers. This bomb is a source of tremendous pride for the Korean people, north and south. The world should congratulate the Korean people for this achievement."

And finally, Nicole from the United States writes: "I think it is in the best interest of the United States to leave well enough alone. We are already in the middle of one war. The United Nations needs to step in. I wish it wasn't always up to the U.S. to protect the world."

CHURCH: Quite a mix of views there. I think we covered it. That's it for this hour. I'm Rosemary Church.

FRAZIER: I'm Stephen Frazier. Thank you all for joining us. And this is CNN.

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