Community reacts to nuclear test
Bush has spoken with leaders of China, South Korea, Russia and Japan.
Published Oct. 10, 2006
After years of threats to test a nuclear weapon, North Korea claimed to have detonated a nuclear bomb underground on Sunday night.
"Last night the government of North Korea proclaimed to the world that it had conducted a nuclear test," President George Bush stated in a news release.
Political science professor Cooper Drury said he thinks the international community will react strongly to the suspected test.
"All of the major countries have come out against it," he said. "More action will be taken; there will be harsher terms. If we exert more pressure on them, there could be some serious repercussions, but we may have to accept those."
In the fall semester of 2005, 191 South Korean students were enrolled at MU, according to information from the University Registrar's Web site.
Je-Kook Chung, coordinator of Korean Programs for the Asian Affairs Center, said that a few students contacted him to voice opinion about the current situation.
"It's half and half," he said. "Some of them just don't believe they have the ability to test nuclear weapons, and some of them are really worried."
HakBae Kim, an international student from South Korea, said he is concerned about the actions that could ensue from other countries in response to announcements about North Korea's nuclear tests.
"I'm concerned that South Korea will get a lot of military problems," he said. "There's going to be a lot of peace treaties. If North Korea doesn't agree with it, there's going to be a war."
In his statement, Bush condemned North Korea's actions and warned that the global community would not tolerate such actions.
"Once again, North Korea has defied the will of the international community, and the international community will respond," he stated in the release.
Although the test remained unconfirmed at the time of the statement, Bush reaffirmed that the claim "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."
In the release, Bush stated that he spoke with the governmental leaders of China, South Korea, Russia and Japan, and that they agreed that the actions "deserve an immediate response by the United Nations Security Council."
U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., voiced his support of Bush's statement.
"I strongly support President Bush's efforts to work with other concerned countries and the U.N.," he stated in a news release. "We must confront this threat in order to restore regional and global stability as well as protect the long-term safety and security of the American people."
Drury said military action is an unlikely response to the nuclear test.
"I don't see a strike in the immediate future, assuming nothing else happens," he said. "What would we hit? If we do, we've got a real shooting match on our hands."
