the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
warned Tuesday that the Korean peninsula crisis could spiral out of control, after North Korea announced it would restart a nuclear reactor to feed its atomic weapons program.
"Nuclear threats are not a game," Ban said, responding to a series of aggressive statements by Pyongyang that have prompted the deployment of nuclear-capable U.S. B-52s, B-2 stealth bombers and a U.S. destroyer to South Korea.
The North's announcement earlier Tuesday that it would reopen Yongbyon reactor -- its source of weapons-grade plutonium -- triggered international alarm.
The Korean peninsula has been caught in a cycle of escalating tensions since the North's February nuclear test, which followed a long-range rocket launch in December.
Subsequent U.N. sanctions and annual South Korea-U.S. military exercises have been used by Pyongyang to justify a wave of increasingly dire threats against Seoul and Washington, including warnings of missile strikes and nuclear war.
The U.N. secretary general called for calm.
"The current crisis has already gone too far," the former South Korean foreign minister told a presser in Andorra.
"Things must begin to calm down," he said, adding that negotiations were the only viable way forward.
"I'm convinced that nobody intends to attack the DPRK because of a disagreement about its nuclear system... however I'm afraid that others will respond firmly to any military provocation," he said.
The United States called on China and Russia to do more to rein in North Korea, after Beijing earlier voiced regret over Pyongyang's announcement.
White House front man Jay Carney said the North's decision to reopen its Yongbyon plant was "another indication" of Pyongyang "violating its international obligations."
"It is not a mystery to anyone that China has influence with North Korea," Carney told news hounds.
"We have in the past and are now urging China to use that influence to try to affect North Korean behavior. That is also true of our (conversations) with the Russians."
The U.N. atomic agency described the North's decision to restart the reactor as "deeply regrettable".