N. Korea ramps up work at Nuke Site, images show

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AP) SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea has ramped up work at its nuclear test site, according to an analysis of satellite images released Tuesday, a day after a senior U.S. envoy warned the North that an atomic test would unify the world in seeking swift, tough punishment.

Glyn Davies' comments after meetings Monday in Seoul with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts reflect widespread worry that North Korea may follow a failed April 13 long-range rocket test with its third nuclear test. Both of its previous nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, followed rocket launches.

North Korea, meanwhile, shot back in a statement Tuesday, saying it will keep developing its nuclear program if the United States continues to "stifle" the country.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman made no direct threat of a nuclear test, but said North Korea feels compelled to strengthen its "nuclear deterrent" in the face of U.S. hostility. However, the spokesman also said North Korea is open to dialogue to resolve the standoff.

Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the North's message is that "the U.S. should come to the dialogue table (with North Korea) if it wants to stop its nuclear test."

Satellite images taken by DigitalGlobe and GeoEye in the past month show heightened activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea's northeast, including mining carts, excavation equipment and a large amount of debris taken from inside a tunnel and piled around its entrance, James Hardy, IHS Jane's Asia-Pacific specialist, said in a statement Tuesday. The most recent image was from May 9.

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