South Korea’s defense ministry warned Monday that North Korea could conduct another nuclear test at any time.
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“Every Pyongyang district, particularly where the North Korean leadership is possibly hidden, will be completely destroyed by ballistic missiles and high-explosive shells as soon as the North shows any signs of using a nuclear weapon”. It said the United States was “the root cause” of the issue.
North Korea is capable of detonating another nuclear device anytime at one of its unused tunnels at the country’s main atomic test site, Seoul official said Monday, three days after the country carried out its fifth bomb explosion.
However, Pyongyang has dismissed the US’ threats and continued to blame the States for North Korea’s need for nuclear weapons.
Following the North’s nuclear test, Obama said he had spoken to the South Korean and Japanese leaders and agreed to work with the Security Council to enforce existing measures. The United States, Britain and France – three of the five veto-wielding permanent members – pushed for the 15-member body to impose new sanctions.
The North’s latest nuclear test was the most powerful to date and its claim to have used “standardized” warheads sparked worries it was making headway in its push to develop small and sophisticated warheads to be topped on missiles. The crux of the issue lay with the United States, not China, she added.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday called for a “creative” response.
The US special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, said: “In addition to action in the Security Council, both the US and Japan, together with the Republic of Korea, will be looking at unilateral measures, as well as bilateral measures, as well as possible trilateral cooperation”.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, formerly the country’s chief nuclear negotiator, arrived in Beijing on Monday and was seen entering the country’s embassy, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.
Mr Ri left Pyongyang to attend a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement countries in Venezuela and later the UN General Assembly, the Associated Press reported from Pyongyang without citing a source.
Yonhap reported that a planned US military B-1B bomber flight to the Korean peninsula had been scheduled for Monday but was delayed because of bad weather.
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“Due to inclement weather conditions, the engagement at Osan Air Base scheduled for today has been postponed”, Yonhap quoted USFK spokesman Christopher Bush saying in a statement. Park said Monday the “danger of war” and a possibility of North Korean provocations could loom on the Korean Peninsula.
