Concerns have risen that the North could carry out yet another nuclear test in the run-up to the Workers’ Party Congress that the North is scheduled to hold on Friday for the first time in 36 years.
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South Korea conveyed a similar warning last week after determining that Pyongyang had completed preparations at the same site used for the North’s fourth ever nuclear test in January.
Free movement in and out of the capital has also been forbidden and there has been an increase in inspections and property searches, according to Daily NK, which claims to have sources in the country.
A landmark ruling party congress is really a coronation of sorts for Kim Jong-Un, recognising the young 33-year-old leader as the legitimate inheritor of North Korea’s dynastic dictatorship. But earlier this year, the U.S.Treasury sanctioned an official in an Iranian organization that it alleged had sent missile technicians to North Korea in recent years to work on a rocket booster being developed by Pyongyang.
The last congress took place over four days in 1980, when Kim’s grandfather, founding leader Kim Il-Sung was still in power.
South Korea’s unification ministry said that Seoul is closely monitoring the situation but no particular signs of a test have been detected.
North Korea completed three increasingly powerful nuclear tests at Punggye-ri in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
SEOUL-South Korea’s president said she sought Iran’s help to implement worldwide sanctions against North Korea as Seoul works to build pressure on its volatile neighbor amid concerns that Pyongyang will carry out another nuclear test.
“But such a test will also serve other purposes, namely to show other countries that North Korea would be willing to use nuclear weapons to defend itself and to gather additional technical information that will contribute to the further development of its nuclear arsenal and missile force”, he said.
“The military should thoroughly be ready for any kind of North Korean provocation to ensure the safety of the people”, Hwang said during a Cabinet meeting in Seoul. The United Nations security council approved even tougher economic sanctions this March after a number of military tests.
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“Let’s uphold Great Comrade Kim Jong Un’s Songun revolutionary leadership with patriotism!”, one banner read. “The first thing is to advance the pace of economic building … the second is to improve the people’s living standards … and the third, to strengthen our national defence capabilities”.
