North Korea today described UN sanctions imposed on it as an act of war.
Defiant in the face of sanctions, imposed on it after its nuclear test, Pyongyang said it had withstood international pressure before and would not yield now that it had become "a nuclear weapons state".
"The DPRK had remained unfazed in any storm and stress in the past when it had no nuclear weapons," official media quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying.
"It is quite nonsensical to expect the DPRK to yield to the pressure and threat of someone at this time when it has become a nuclear weapons state."
"The DPRK wants peace but is not afraid of war . . . It wants dialogue but is always ready for confrontation," the spokesman said.
The international community expressed concern that the communist state could be preparing for a second test. South Korea, the United States and Russia said there were signs of activity in the area where a massive explosion occurred on October 9th.
The US government has now confirmed the October 9th underground blast, which brought worldwide condemnation and the sanctions, was a nuclear explosion.
The New York Timessaid the explosion was most likely not fuelled by uranium but by plutonium harvested from its small, mothballed nuclear reactor.
The report suggests fears that Pyongyang had developed a uranium programme based on equipment and know-how from Pakistan were unfounded.
US news networks NBC and ABC said spy satellites had spotted what may be preparations for another detonation in North Korea.
There was no official confirmation, but a South Korean official said the government was making preparations "with the possibility of a second test in mind".
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov later said: "If a second explosion was really carried out, then the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would immediately learn about it and inform the public."