North Korea has already conducted five nuclear tests, the latest of which took place on Friday.
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North Korea was hit with the strongest set of sanctions yet in March which included the prohibition of supplying aviation fuel, including rocket fuel, and the sale of small arms, to Pyongyang.
The U.S. and its allies have strongly condemned the test and vowed to tighten economic sanctions against the country.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun refused to say what evidence pointed to another possible North Korea test, but he told reporters that South Korean and United States intelligence officials believe North Korea has the ability to detonate another atomic device any time.
According to the Associated Press, Moon did not offer evidence to back the claim, merely saying South Korea and USA intelligence authorities believe North Korea has the ability to detonate another atomic device anytime.
North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho departed Pyongyang on Monday for a pair of worldwide meetings, including the U.N. General Assembly in NY, just days after North Korea’s latest nuclear test.
Friday’s blast was the most powerful since North Korea conducted its first nuclear test a decade ago. Yonhap did not elaborate.
Bad weather Monday delayed for at least 24 hours a US plan to send warplanes from Guam to South Korea, as it has done after past provocations by North Korea. The U.S. military said some aircraft will be deployed Tuesday but declined to disclose what type or how many planes.
South Korea believes Kim Jong Un is preparing to hit the button on another test.
On Sunday, one South Korean military source told the Yonhap news agency that Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, could be annihilated if it showed any signs of mounting a nuclear attack.
The South Korean defence ministry could not immediately confirm the report.
North Korea’s propaganda machine, for its part, has kept up its typical anti-Seoul threats and crude insults against Park, calling her “hideous confrontation manic” and “the Korean nation’s biggest trouble-maker”. That marked a change after many years when North Korea did not send its foreign minister to the NY gathering.
Concern has been growing that the country is testing weapons at an unprecedented pace this year, continuing to improve its nuclear and missile capabilities. Regional disarmament-for-aid talks on the North’s nuclear ambitions have not been held since late 2008.
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South Korea is also discussing plans to resume propaganda broadcasts on the border from sometime in November, he added.
