India takes tough stand on North Korean nuclear test !!

India reacted strongly against North Korea's nuclear test on Monday, indicating that it would take a more tough position on international non-proliferation issues.

In a statement issued soon after he assumed office on Monday morning, new foreign minister S M Krishna said, "For the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to conduct such a test in violation of its international commitments would be unfortunate. Like others in the international community we are concerned at the adverse effect on peace and security in that region of such tests."

India's tough stand on North Korea is in line with new thinking in the Manmohan Singh government that India would be more upfront on non-proliferation issues, particularly as these are expected to be uppermost in the Obama administration.

While the test could see an upsurge in the demand to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in the US, strategic analysts here also believe that the reverse argument could equally be applied -- that since there are rogue nuclear countries like North Korea, nobody could actually foreclose the testing option. What India would also like to see is more global pressure on China on this issue, because both North Korea and Pakistan trace their nuclear weapons to Chinese proliferation.

Post nuclear deal, India has adopted a more robust stand on CTBT, and been more proactive in linking nuclear disarmament to the treaty. Laying out its policy recently, the PM's special envoy on nuclear issues, Shyam Saran, told an influential think tank in Washington that "India has been a consistent votary of a CTBT but did not sign the CTBT as it eventually emerged because it was not explicitly linked to the goal of nuclear disarmament."

"For India, this was crucial since it was not acceptable to legitimize, in any way, a permanent division between nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states," he said. The CTBT, he said, was pushed through the Conference on Disarmament rather than UN General Assembly, to override Indian objections as was the provision to increase pressure on this country insisting that India's signature was necessary for CTBT to come into force.

The North Korean test, said Indian officials, is part of a dangerous trend -- Pakistan is seen to be ramping up its nuclear weapons capability, Iran is reportedly inching closer to a nuclear weapon, and now North Korea sprang back into the equation, after weeks of throwing out inspectors, missile tests and strong language.

Strategic analyst K Subrahmanyam said, "So long as nuclear weapons grow and are a currency of power, there will be North Koreas, which will deem themselves immune from international punishment when they are armed with such weapons."

North Korea's test should put China in a spot, because as the hermit kingdom's strongest benefactor, China is virtually presiding over North Korea's nuclear evolution. The North Korean nuclear weapon, like the Pakistani, is Chinese in origin. Over the years, China has not only continued its proliferation activities to Pakistan, but has prevented North Korea from coming under more serious international steps.