 The rising prospect of North Korea testing a nuclear weapon has U.S. officials working with East Asian allies to prepare a political response to any such test. White House and Pentagon officials have extensively briefed their Japanese and South Korean allies about satellite imagery that appears to show rapid, extensive preparations for a nuclear weapons test in North Korea, the New York Times reported Friday. At the same time, the United States does not want to play into North Korea's presumed desire to create a crisis that then becomes grounds for demanding economic and diplomatic concessions from Washington. "The North Koreans have learned how to use irrationality as a bargaining tool," a top U.S. official. Of particular concern is the construction of a reviewing stand, luxurious by North Korean standards, several miles from a likely test site where workers appear to have been digging what first looked like a deep mining shaft, only to fill it back in -- as would be expected at a nuclear test site. | I suppose it's too much to hope for a massive accident |
Washington wants a coordinated response among its allies to any such test, officials said. |