S. Korea warns North: Don't conduct another nuclear test SEOUL South Korea warned archrival North Korea Thursday not to carry out a third nuclear test, and South Korea's president called leading security officials to an unscheduled meeting, the Reuters news agency reports. Reuters says the warning by the outgoing administration of Lee Myung-bak "was the toughest yet after North Korea vowed to conduct more rocket and nuclear tests in response to a U.N. censure for its launch of a long-range missile in December." South Korea and others who have been monitoring activities at the North's known nuclear test facilities think Pyongyang is technically ready for another nuclear test and is just waiting for the green light from supreme leader Kim Jong-un, Reuters observes. Separately, South Korean officials said Thursday the first satellite launched from South Korean soil is working normally, a day after Seoul achieved its space milestone. A South Korean rocket carrying the satellite blasted off from a launch pad Wednesday in the southwestern coastal village of Goheung. In a brief statement Thursday, the Science Ministry said the satellite was working normally and transmitting data on its orbit. The launch was a culmination of years of efforts by South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, to advance its space program and cement its standing as a technology powerhouse whose semiconductors, smart phones and automobiles command global demand. Pyongyang is angry over tough new international sanctions over its Dec. 12 rocket launch, which also put a satellite into space, and it has accused its rivals of applying double standards toward the two Koreas' space programs. Seoul may eventually be able "to build better missiles and scrutinize North Korea with a better satellite," Kong said. " ... State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. had observed the "successful" satellite launch. She said there was no basis for comparing the South and the North's rocket programs. Unlike the North, the South has developed its technology responsibly and is an active participant in international nonproliferation agreements, showing its program has no military intent, she said. "The North should not see it as a threat because they, too, can enjoy the same transparency with regard to the program that the rest of us have, which is a far cry from how the DPRK behaves," Nuland told reporters. DPRK stands for the formal name for North Korea. China, Japan and India have led the region in space exploration. The satellite launched by Seoul is designed to analyze weather data, measure radiation in space, gauge distances on earth and test how effectively South Korean-made devices installed on the satellite operate in space. Kim Seung-jo, South Korea's chief space official, told reporters his country should be able to independently produce a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit by as early as 2018. She pledged during her campaign to increase such spending to 5 percent of South Korea's GDP by the end of her five-year term.