South Korea’s military has said Pyongyang is technically ready for an additional nuclear test, depending on its leadership’s political decision.
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She did not elaborate on what the signs where, but ordered the military to be prepared, Yonhap news agency said.
Park also threatened North Korea with tougher sanctions and isolation over another potential provocation from the country.
There was also speculation that the North Koran military is under pressure to quickly conduct a successful nuclear test after a mid-range missile test on Friday ended in catastrophic failure.
The remarks by spokesman Moon Sang-gyun were in response to a media inquiry on whether North Korea’s fifth nuclear test would involve a nuclear warhead.
Iran and North Korea have always been suspected of being partners in weapons technologies.
A fifth test could put North Korean scientists and engineers a step closer toward a goal of manufacturing a warhead small enough to place on a long-range missile that could reach the US mainland.
The Pyongyang regime carried out nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, 2013 and most recently in January this year when it allegedly detonated a hydrogen bomb, though some experts have doubted the claim. As one of North Korea’s few allies – not only in the region, but in the world – the hermit kingdom is making China’s job of keeping them in check increasingly hard.
Tension has been running high on the divided peninsula since the North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and a rocket launch a month later that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test.
Another North Korean nuclear test in defiance of United Nations resolutions could lead to stricter enforcement of existing measures and further sanctions. He said USA officials are still assessing, but it was likely a road-mobile missile, given that it was launched from a location not usually used for ballistic missile launches, on the country’s east coast.
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A senior U.S. defense official said the U.S. Strategic Command systems have detected and tracked what officials assessed as a failed North Korean missile launch.
