WASHINGTON: North Korea’s test of a nuclear weapon has highlighted the failed state of the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and could encourage Iran in its own nuclear pursuit.

North Korea announced that it had gone ahead with the test on Monday despite a year of intensive global diplomacy and promises of massive aid for its moribund economy if it would give up its nuclear weapons programme.

It was the first nuclear explosion carried out since Pakistan proved its nuclear status with six blasts in 1998 and joined regional rival India as a member of the nuclear club.

The defiance of the three Asian nations, as well as Israel which is suspected of having nuclear arms although it has never officially revealed its arsenal, has steadily eroded the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) — the one multilateral pact designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

North Korea withdrew from the 188-nation NPT in 2003, the only state yet to pull out of the treaty, before announcing that it had developed a nuclear bomb in 2005.

India and Pakistan never ratified the NPT.

Even before the North Korean test, non-proliferation was under renewed strain after the administration of US President George W. Bush virtually gave its blessing to India’s defiance of the NPT by proposing a major deal to help it develop its nuclear power industry.

Under the civilian nuclear deal, Washington would aid development of India’s civilian nuclear power programme in return for New Delhi placing its atomic facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.

As a non-signatory to the NPT, India had been banned by the United States and other mostly industrialized nations from buying fuel for its atomic reactors and other related equipment.

Iran, meanwhile, has threatened to follow North Korea in withdrawing from the NPT as part of an escalating stand-off with the West over its nuclear programme.

The United States and five other major powers are due to begin consulting at the United Nations this week on a series of sanctions to impose on Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment activities.

The big powers fear the enrichment programme can be subverted to provide material for the development of nuclear weapons.

Iran insists the enrichment activity is only aimed at producing fuel for nuclear power plants — a development allowed by the NPT — and has warned it could quit the treaty in response to international sanctions.

Non-proliferation experts expressed fears on Monday that North Korea’s nuclear test could embolden Iran to pursue its own atomic ambitions.

There was also concern North Korea’s action could lead neighbouring states like South Korea, Taiwan and Japan to reconsider their non-nuclear status.

“It’s this Asian nuclear reaction chain that’s the real danger,” Crinicione said.

“You could let loose a dynamic that you’re not going to be able to stop. The non-proliferation treaty would be left in tatters,” he said.

Some experts have placed much of the blame for the twin nuclear crises on the Bush administration’s refusal to negotiate directly with either North Korea or Iran.

“Where I think we’re mistaken is the view that it’s this tremendous reward for us to talk to people have hang-ups about us,” said George Perkovich, a non-proliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.—AFP