North Korea announced on Tuesday it planned its first underground nuclear test, saying its hand had been forced by a U.S. "threat of nuclear war and sanctions." "We think the main point is that North Korea should understand how strongly the United States and other council members feel that they should not test this nuclear device," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters. "And if they do test it, it will be a very different world a day after the test," Bolton said. Diplomats said the Security Council was expected to adopt a formal statement on Friday telling North Korea to abandon the planned nuclear test and warning it of unspecified consequences if it went ahead. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, making his first reported public appearance since the Tuesday announcement on the planned nuclear test, held a meeting to rally army commanders on Friday. But North Korea's official KCNA news agency did not mention preparations for a nuclear test in its report, which said Kim was welcomed "with stormy cheers of hurrah." The soldiers shouted: "Let's fight at the cost of our lives for the respected supreme commander comrade Kim Jong-il."