Pat Dollard

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Excerpted from Fox News:

North Korea said it had carried out a powerful underground nuclear test, much larger than one conducted in 2006. The regime also test-fired three short-range, ground-to-air missiles later Monday from the same northeastern site where it launched a rocket last month, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed sources.

The twin moves were roundly condemned throughout Washington Monday.

“The United States will never waver from our determination to protect our people and the peace and security of the world,” Obama said.

He accused North Korea of increasing tensions and threatening stability in the region, while only further isolating itself.

“It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery,” Obama said earlier in a written statement. “The danger posed by North Korea’s threatening activities warrants action by the international community.”

He said the United States would continue working in multilateral talks and will hold consultations with members of the U.N. Security Council.

Both the missile firing and nuclear test caught U.S. officials by surprise, according to one official, though Obama and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said North Korean leaders’ recent statements previewed such a move.

“They didn’t give us any warning whatsoever,” a senior U.S. intelligence official who works on North Korean issues told FOX News.

The tests added an extra layer of urgency to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to China, where she is meeting with officials to discuss climate change.

“Such action by North Korea is unacceptable and cause for great alarm,” Pelosi said in a written statement from Shanghai. “These reported tests underscore the message our congressional delegation planned to deliver to top Chinese government leaders during our meetings later this week: the Chinese must use their influence to help bring North Korea to the table for the Six-Party talks. Today’s announcement makes that need all the more urgent.”

The rocket liftoff, widely believed to be a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology, drew censure from the U.N. Security Council.

Mullen told FOX News that North Korea’s actions speak “to their growing belligerence.”