US confirms Korean test, as China inspects cargo

8220;Analysis of air samples collected on October 11, 2006, detected radioactive debris which confirms that North Korea conducted an underground nuclear explosion in the vicinity of P8217;unggye on October 9, 2006,8221; a statement from Negroponte8217;s office said.

It provides the first official confirmation from the US that a nuclear detonation took place, as Pyongyang has claimed.

Meanwhile, China was inspecting cargo trucks bound for North Korea on Monday as Australia banned the North8217;s ships from its ports and Japan mulled over more sanctions to punish the communist nation.

The Chinese inspections at a border crossing with the North came amid concerns that Beijing would ignore new UN sanctions calling for nations to check cargo leaving and arriving from North Korea.

US was preparing a diplomatic swing through Asia to address possible divisions over how to impose the new sanctions. The measures, approved on Saturday, include an embargo on major weapons to Pyongyang and the freezing of the assets of businesses linked to weapons programmes.

The US diplomatic campaign was to continue till Wednesday when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to arrive in Japan before traveling to South Korea and China. She was expected to have a three-way meeting with the Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers on Thursday in Seoul, Japanese officials said.