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North Korea �?nuclear test’ condemned by the UN Security Council

North Korea has once again shocked the world after saying it had successfully conducted a nuclear test, reports Dan Wooding

founder of ASSIST Ministries.

“We have successfully conducted another nuclear test on May 25 as part of the republic's measures to strengthen its nuclear deterrent,” the North's official KCNA news agency said.

On receiving the news, the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea's carrying out of a nuclear test as a “clear violation” of existing council resolutions, and says it will begin work immediately on a new resolution.

The emergency meeting of the 15-member council lasted less than an hour. Afterwards, diplomats emerged with a united voice saying they opposed and condemned Pyongyang's latest defiance of international law.

In the past, Russia and China have traditionally been North Korea's strongest allies on the council. But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who chairs the council this month, criticized Pyongyang's actions as contrary to U.N. resolutions, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

“We are one of the founding fathers, Russia is, of those [the NPT and CTBT] documents,” said Vitaly Churkin. “So we think they are extremely important in current international relations. So anything which would undermine the regimes of those two treaties is very serious and needs to have a strong response to it.”

The Chinese government issued a statement saying it resolutely opposes the test.

I was in Seoul on a reporting trip in October, 2006 when the news came through that North Korea had tested its first nuclear weapon underground. The test took place in Gilju in Hamgyong province.

The size of the bomb is uncertain, with estimates varying from 550 tons of destructive power to as much as 15 kilotons. The 1945 Hiroshima bomb was 12.5-15 kilotons.

However, I have discovered that it not all bad news for the people of North Korea, for during this and previous trips to South Korea, I discovered that there are thousands of South Korean Christians who are in training to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ into North Korea and also plant churches when the country finally opens up.

On one occasion, I visited a training camp in the hills outside of Seoul where these Christians were undergoing vigorous training on how to live and work in North Korea.

One Christian, who asked not to be named, told me, “We believe that because of world pressure, North Korea will eventually have to open up to get much-needed foreign currency and we have many ready and willing to move in there with the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

He said that they are aware that the country could be open for just a short time, and then it will close tight again, and they will be trapped inside.

“But we are willing to be martyrs for the Gospel because we love the people of North Korea,” added this Korean Christian.

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TAGS: North Korea UN Security Council �?nuclear test’ the Gospel Christians

[05/26/2009]

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