Outgoing Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said that the United States was fully prepared for a test.
White House spokesman Jay Carney criticised the North Korean statement as needlessly provocative and said that a nuclear test would be a significant violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Undeterred by North Koreas anger, the United States added names to a blacklist that freezes any US-based assets of designated individuals and groups and makes it a crime for anyone in the United States to assist them.
Kerry spoke little about the issue in his confirmation hearing Thursday but said that the United States should speak out for the prisoners of gulags in North Korea.
Senator John Kerry, whom Obama named as his next secretary of state, has previously championed engagement with North Korea, including one-on-one talks and food assistance to address reported widespread hunger in the country.
North Korea, which defiantly put a satellite into orbit last month, had responded furiously to a unanimous vote at the UN Security Council that expanded the number of entities on an international blacklist.
Panetta said the United States had no outward indications that North Korea would carry out a test imminently but cautioned that much about the totalitarian state was opaque.
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It also blacklisted two Beijing-based representatives from the Tanchon Commercial Bank, which it said was the financial arm of Koreas Mining Development Trading Corporation, accused of missile transactions with Iran.
North Korea said that its December 12 launch was a peaceful scientific mission.
North Korea will continue to ce isolation if it refuses to take concrete steps to address the concerns of the international community over its nuclear and missile programs, the State Department said in a statement.
The showdown is deja vu for Obama, Cps powerschool student login Brownsburg Community School Corporation -- Official Site - powerschool.brownsburg.k12.in.us who took office in 2009 pledging to reach out to US adversaries but four months later was outraged as North Korea carried out its second nuclear test.
I dont think its guaranteed that its uranium, but I think its probable that it will be a uranium device just to see if theyve got that working, he said.
The administration has since held out limited hope for changing North Korean policy. It has described its stance as strategic patience, with the United States unwilling to make gestures until Pyongyang addresses concerns.
James Acton, a nuclear expert and physicist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that North Korea may want to test with uranium.
Further provocations would only increase Pyongyangs isolation, Nursery Schools The Initial Step For The Academic Existence and its continued focus on its nuclear and missile program is doing nothing to help the North Korean people, Carney told reporters.
Satellite images have indicated that North Korea is pressing ahead with its nuclear program, an emblem of pride and deterrence for Kim Jong-Uns regime.
The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a Hong Kong-based trading company, Leader (Hong Kong) International Trading Ltd, which it accused of assisting shipments for North Koreas main arms dealer.
We remain prepared to deal with any kind of provocation from the North Koreans. But I hope... they determine that in the end, it is better to become a part of the international mily, Panetta told reporters.
They have the capability, frankly, to conduct these tests in a way that make it very difficult to determine whether or not they are doing it, Panetta said.
Outside experts agree that Pyongyang succeeded in putting a satellite in orbit, but US officials charged that the launch was aimed at developing a ballistic missile that could reach the United States.
Pyongyang disclosed in November 2010 to visiting US scientists that it was operating a uranium enrichment plant, giving it a second way to build bombs after using plutonium for its two tests.
Thesatellite view US denounces N Korea over nuclear test threat United States, education supported by Japan and South Korea, spearheaded the UN resolution. China, North Koreas main ally, supported the bid after lengthy negotiations in which it agreed to expand the number of entities under existing restrictions rather than create a new set of sanctions.
The State Department blacklisted the Korean Committee for Space Technology, which carries out Pyongyangs rocket launches, and two related individuals.
