French minister questions nuclear test
US aims to pass resolution on N.Korea

State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan left Beijing Wednesday on "a working visit" to the United States and Russia, the Foreign Ministry said. (Full Coverage on North Korea Nuclear Crisis)

Tang will stop in Washington and Moscow on a "working visit as a special envoy of the President Hu Jintao," the ministry said late yesterday.

It did not give any other details on who Tang will meet or what will be discussed.

The trip comes two days after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) claimed that it had tested an atomic bomb.

The DPRK warned yesterday that it would physically retaliate to increased US pressure.

"If the US keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures," the DPRK's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "We are ready for both dialogue and confrontation."

The rising unease in Northeast Asia comes after Pyongyang claimed on Monday to have conducted its first nuclear bomb test, triggering a US-backed campaign to have the UN Security Council sanction the country.

In Pyongyang, Kim Yong-nam, second to DPRK top leader Kim Jong-il, discussed in an interview with Japan's Kyodo News Service what Pyongyang's next steps would be.

"The issue of future nuclear tests is linked to US policy towards our country," Kim was quoted as saying when asked whether Pyongyang would conduct more nuclear tests.

Acting on its own, Japan decided to impose fresh sanctions on Pyongyang. It yesterday announced a total ban on DPRK imports and said ships from the nation were prohibited from entering Japanese ports.

DPRK nationals are also prohibited from entering Japan, with limited exceptions, the Cabinet Office said in a statement.