North Korea has announced it will conduct a nuclear-weapons test, without saying when. In February 2005, the North announced it possessed nuclear weapons, but this is the first time the country has publicized its intent to carry out a test.
The announcement raises the level of Pyongyang's defiance of international cooperative efforts to maintain peace in the region following the regime's test-firing of seven ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on July 5. The announcement is reckless, and the regime should realize that a nuclear-weapons test will never be condoned by the international community.
North Korea's statement said, "The extreme U.S. threat of a nuclear war, sanctions and pressure compel the DPRK to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering its nuclear deterrent as a self-defense measure in response."