North Korea, in its first formal statement since Monday's claimed atomic bomb test, hailed the blast as a success and said attempts by the outside world to penalize North Korea with sanctions would be considered an act of war.

Further pressure will be countered with physical retaliation, the North's Foreign Ministry warned in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"If the U.S. keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures," the statement, said without specifying what those measures could be.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States would not attack North Korea, rejecting a suggestion that Pyongyang may feel it needs nuclear weapons to stave off an Iraq-style U.S. invasion.

Rice told CNN that President Bush has told the North Koreans that "there is no intention to invade or attack them. So they have that guarantee. ... I don't know what more they want."

Bulldogg = This unbelievable, than why not just leave N. Korea alone & let them cary on with their nuclear studies, what i think the main concern here is; If N.Korea keeps developing nuclear weapons than that means they will have the ability to sell the arms to Iran & other nations that are not in good terms with President Bush Jr's U.S.A.
That's what its all about.

Dumb.

smart

disgustingly brilliant !

I think intead to refusing to negotiate the US should send rice and S Korea kimchi to our N Korean Asian brothers.This diplomatic war may end up in a real Nuclear Tragedy.

And do what? Beg the dear leader not to test more nukes? This is probably the best time to call it quits and flick the so proud Norks with their nuke achievements a finger and let them live with the radioactive matter. No matter how good the bomb may be, I'm pretty sure you can't feed 20 million with it.

Begin negotiations to start with.Rest will follow.We know the N Korean economy is .Supreme Marshall does not even have enough rice and kimchi to feed his subjects.I read somehwere that N Korean even eat human corpses in order to survive.I think the N Korean leadership went ahead with the tests bcoz it was cornered.

For a moment stop thinking like a Yankee.North or South,both are Koreans and one day the two countries have to be reunited.If the N Koreans feel they won't receive any aid they might invade S Korea or Japan.This would mean a lot of destruction.

Personally I feel the US is ignoring N Korea bcoz it has it's plate full in Afghanistan and Iraq.S Korea has to show more maturity instead of following instructions of the US govt.

Japan has completely servered all trade. North Korea didn't declare war on them.

They've threatened them .