France has set off another nuclear blast in the South Pacific and a new round of public outrage.
About 20 protesters in South Korea, some wearing skull masks, pelted the French Embassy with eggs Wednesday after the fourth test blast since August under a remote Polynesian island. Police stood guard, but no clashes were reported.Australia, Japan and New Zealand protested the blast Tuesday, which seismologists said was as powerful as a magnitude-5.1 earthquake. France's Defense Ministry said it was equal to 40,000 tons of TNT.
France set off the blast under Mururoa atoll, about 3,400 miles southeast of Hawaii and 750 miles from Tahiti, less than a week after 95 countries voted for a U.N. resolution criticizing the renewed testing, which began Sept. 5.
"I am appalled that the French government continues to show disregard for the feelings of the people of the South Pacific," said Prime Minister Paul Keating of Australia.
The testing "raises the level of skepticism amongst non-nuclear weapons states about the sincerity of some nuclear powers to pursue disarmament," Keating said.
"The French government must realize that by sending the wrong signals about its nuclear intentions it is in fact undermining its long-term security, not strengthening it."
In New Zealand, Greenpeace spokesman Michael Szabo said French President Jacques Chirac had given the international community a slap in the face.
"Chirac's ignorance of international politics and arrogant disregard for the millions of people around the world protesting against nuclear testing is obscene," Szabo said.
Environmentalists contend the testing is unnecessary and dangerous to a region known for its crystalline waters and rich marine life.
"Once again, the strong - France - has dominated the small - Polynesia," said the Rev. Jacques Ihorai, president of the Polynesian Evangelical Church.
The South Pacific Forum, whose tiny island nations are near the blast site, said the explosion has "only intensified our anger" against France.
"We are opposed to nuclear testing especially when our own backyard is being used for such experiments," said Ieremia Tabai, head of the 16-nation group, which is based in Fiji.
In Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, officials said all was quiet in the islands, which were rocked by anti-nuclear and pro-independence riots by islanders after the first blast.
The Australian Broadcasting Corp. said about 1,000 gendarmes were on standby in case of trouble.
Nations such as Australia and New Zealand are afraid that the tests will damage Mururoa atoll's rocky core and release radiation into the fragile ocean environment.
Foreign Minister Yohei Kono of Japan, after giving a formal protest to the French ambassador in Tokyo, said repeated protests are "gradually having an impact."