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SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea on Tuesday vowed to push ahead with its nuclearprogram because of what it called U.S. hostility, as an outsideanalysis of satellite images suggested it has ramped up work at itsnuclear test site over the past month. North Korea's statement from an unidentified Foreign Ministryspokesman came a day after a senior U.S. envoy met withhigh-ranking South Korean and Japanese envoys in Seoul and warnedthe North that an atomic test would unify the world in seekingswift, tough punishment. North Korea made no direct threat of a nuclear test and said it wasopen to dialogue to resolve the nuclear standoff. An analyst, KohYu-hwan at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the Foreign Ministrystatement was a message that "the U.S. should come to the dialoguetable (with North Korea) if it wants to stop its nuclear test." There has been widespread worry that North Korea may follow afailed April 13 long-range rocket test with a third nuclear test.Both of its previous nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, followedrocket launches. Late Tuesday, Glyn Davies, the top U.S. envoy for North Korea, toldreporters in Beijing, where he is meeting with Chinese counterpartsto discuss the North Korean nuclear situation, that he hadn't had achance to study the North's latest statement but that his initialsense was that it was consistent with what it has said in the past. Satellite images taken by DigitalGlobe and GeoEye in the past monthshow heightened activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site inNorth Korea's northeast, including mining carts, excavationequipment and a large amount of debris taken from inside a tunneland piled around its entrance, James Hardy, IHS Jane's Asia-Pacificspecialist, said in a statement Tuesday. The most recent image wasfrom May 9. South Korean intelligence officials said last month that satelliteimages showed North Korea was digging a new tunnel in what appearedto be preparation for another nuclear test at the site. A newtunnel is likely needed because existing ones probably caved in andbecame contaminated with radioactive material after previous tests. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who took power in Decemberfollowing the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, has vowed to placetop priority on his impoverished country's military. "It is very important that North Korea not miscalculate again andengage in any future provocation," Davies told reporters earlier atthe South Korean Foreign Ministry. "If they make the right choices,there can be a different future for North Korea." Another nuclear test, however, would result in "swift and sure"punishment at the U.N. Security Council, he said. North Korea announced its planned rocket launch just two weeksafter it had struck a food aid-for-nuclear freeze deal withWashington — the result of months of tedious, back-and-forthnegotiations that was seen as something of a breakthrough at thetime. Washington and other nations called the April rocket launch a coverfor a test of missile technology that could be used to attack theUnited States — and therefore a violation of the U.S.-NorthKorea deal. North Korea said the rocket, which broke into piecesover the Yellow Sea shortly after liftoff, was meant to send anobservational satellite into orbit. "If the U.S. persists in its moves to ratchet up sanctions andpressure upon us despite our peace-loving efforts, we will be leftwith no option but to take countermeasures for self-defense," theNorth's Foreign Ministry statement said. ___ Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul and Alexa Olesen inBeijing contributed to this report. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Curved Tempered Glass , Flat Tempered Glass, and more. For more , please visit Curved Tempered Glass today!
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