SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) — North Korea is ready to conduct an additional nuclear test at any time, according to South Korean and U.S. intelligence assessment, the South’s Defense Ministry said on Monday (September 12), three days a fifth test that drew widespread condemnation.
Pyongyang on Friday (September 9) set off its most powerful nuclear blast to date, saying it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile and ratcheting up a threat that its rivals and the United Nations have been powerless to contain.
“Assessment by South Korean and U.S. intelligence in regard of North Korea’s additional nuclear test is that the North is always ready for an additional nuclear test in the Punggye-ri area,” South Korea’s Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told a news briefing.
Punggye-ri is the site of the North’s five nuclear explosions located near the northeastern shore.
Moon also said the North has a tunnel where it can conduct an additional nuclear test.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported earlier that North Korea has completed preparations for another nuclear test, citing South Korean government sources who said the North may use a previously unused tunnel at its mountainous test site.
Meanwhile, South Korea and U.S. senior officials held a bilateral defence forum in Seoul on Monday (September 12), an annual dialogue between the two countries to discuss several security issues including North Korea’s threat.
“I’d echo comments that have been made by several senior leaders across the U.S. government that the United States remains committed to the defence of ROK against the North Korean threat, with all aspects of conventional, missile defence and nuclear capability,” said U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia, Abraham Denmark, at the forum called ‘Korea-US Integrated Defence Dialogue (KIDD).
“We need to be aware that the biggest threat to the ROK-US alliance is Kim Jong Un himself who considers nuclear and missile as a tool of survival for the regime,” said Yoo Jeh-seung, South Korean defence ministry’s deputy minister.
The tenth KIDD kicked off on Monday for two days. A U.S. special envoy for the isolated state, Sung Kim, will also participate in the forum when he travels to Seoul on Monday after discussing with Japanese officials in Tokyo cooperation among neighboring countries in the wake of the North’s nuclear test.
North Korea said on Sunday a push for further sanctions following its latest nuclear test was “laughable”, and vowed to continue to strengthen its nuclear power.
The U.S. military has delayed a B-1B bomber flight to the Korean peninsula scheduled for Monday by at least 24 hours due to bad weather conditions in Guam, Yonhap news agency reported citing an unidentified U.S. Forces Korea official.