MEDIA REACTION: EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC: DPRK NUCLEAR TEST;

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 001071 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD DEPT PASS USTR USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC: DPRK NUCLEAR TEST; SAO PAULO ¶1. "Geopolitical Bomb" Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (10/10) editorialized: "The announcement of the North Korean nuclear test puts the world at risk to the dangers of [nuclear] proliferation. It will be no surprise if, in view of the new geopolitical reality, both Japan and South Korea decide to develop their own nuclear weapons. Japan had already signaled with a possible review of the anti-militarist policy it adopted after being defeated in WWII. Globally speaking, the enlargement of the nuclear club tends to encourage Iran's appetite, a fact that would bring additional instability to the already disturbed Middle East. Therefore, the situation demands a UN's unequivocal response.... It is hard to know what dictator Kim Jon Il wants with that demonstration. If he had plans to obtain concessions and advantages from its neighbors and the West, he should never have abandoned the area of rhetorical threats. By showing that he already possesses the bomb, Kim Jon Il practically annuls any value that a suspension of his nuclear program could have. By exploding the bomb, Kim has just undermined his relations with China, the only nation formally aligned with North Korea. Particularly in regards to Beijing a remilitarized Japan and a nervous South Korea is not helpful. North Korea's initiative shows the flaws in the non-proliferation system. It is time for the great powers to carry out a wide review of their unbalanced policies. It is not possible for the US to reward India for having developed a bomb and not expect that other nations feel the same right to do so." ¶2. "North Korea Tests The Bomb" An editorial in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (10/10) commented: "Pressures from everywhere in the world in recent months were worthless: North Korea carried out Sunday night an underground nuclear test.... There was a time when the North Korean government could count on the benevolence of some nations, which took direct or indirect advantage from its policies of irresponsible challenges. China, for example, used its former ally - by avoiding that the Security Council imposed serious sanctions on Pyongyang - to undermine the US policy in Asia and keep Japan under constant tension. France stalled for time with North Korea whenever it saw in such an attitude a means to jeopardize the US global, political and military hegemony. Now the situation has changed. Kim Jong Il's excesses have been so many that even China feels threatened by North Korea's irresponsible nuclear hazardous enterprise.... China, Japan and South Korea have objective reasons to fear this nuclear threat.... Kim Jon Il has already shown that to make his nation a nuclear power he does not hesitate to condemn his nation to extreme poverty and endemic hunger. The international community must put an end to such madness." McMullen