EU, NATO condemn North Korean nuclear test as threat to international peace, stability

BRUSSELS, Belgium The European Union and NATO on Monday condemned North Korea's nuclear test, saying it endangered peace around the world.

"This test profoundly jeopardizes regional stability and represents a severe threat to international peace and security," said a statement from the EU presidency, which is currently held by Finland.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the 26-nation alliance also condemned the move. "It flies in the face of the international community," de Hoop Scheffer said after talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana at NATO headquarters. He called the tests "a threat to world peace and security," adding that NATO nations would call on North Korea to return to international talks over its nuclear program.

Solana said the test reflects the "upside down" priorities of North Korea's leadership. "It's very bad news for the people of North Korea," Solana said. "At the end of the day the government of North Korea is spending lots of money for something that is not going to be for the benefit of the people, while the people in North Korea ... continue to be starving."

North Korea's claim to have tested a nuclear weapon has elicited widespread condemnation around the world. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the communist country's first-ever nuclear test, an underground explosion, was successfully performed Monday "with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent."

"The EU works in close cooperation with the international community for a decisive international response to this provocative act," the EU statement said. "The EU Presidency strongly urges (North Korea) to announce immediately that it will refrain from any further tests of a nuclear device, publicly renounce nuclear weapons and return immediately and without preconditions to the six-party talks."

China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States have held intermittent talks with North Korea since 2003 in hopes of getting Pyongyang to abandon nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and security guarantees.