An underwater test-fire of strategic submarine ballistic missile is pictured in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on April 24, 2016.
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The statement comes days after Pyongyang conducted its fifth and, what is believed to be, their most powerful nuclear test.
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye said later that North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles posed an “imminent threat”, as tensions rose on the Korean peninsula in the wake of the test last week.
It did not elaborate on what activities had been detected at the test site.
Yonhap, citing an unidentified military source, said Sunday that the plan would turn areas in Pyongyang, where the North’s war commanders were likely to hide, into ashes and “eliminate those places from the map permanently”.
Ri plans to attend the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Venezuela and then go on to the U.N. General Assembly in NY.
The yield from Friday’s test was estimated at 10 kilotons, nearly twice as much as the one Pyongyang conducted only eight months earlier, and analyst say it signals its nuclear capability has grown significantly.
A USA special envoy for the isolated state, Sung Kim, will travel to Seoul on Monday.
Since Friday’s nuclear test South Korea has spoken publicly of its military capabilities and said it is prepared for a retaliation if it is attacked by the North.
“North Korea went ahead with two nuclear tests in just nine months”.
South Korean reports suggest the U.S. is set to send a B-1B bomber from Guam to the Korean peninsula on Tuesday, in a show of strength and solidarity with Seoul. The USFK official, speaking to Reuters, however, declined to name the bomber’s type or the size of the fleet.
The ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun nevertheless declared Monday that the nuclear programme’s “miraculous successes” mean the North has not only U.S. bases in the Asia-Pacific but also the USA mainland “in its clutches”. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it would not comment on the report.
The Security Council denounced the latest test and said it would begin work immediately on a resolution.
The UK, US and France pushed for the 15-member body to impose new sanctions.
Both China and Russian Federation, the remaining veto powers, backed sanctions imposed in March following the North’s January nuclear test, but their apparent ambivalence about fresh sanctions cast doubt on the Security Council’s ability to quickly form a consensus.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday called for a “creative” response.
Meanwhile the Global Times, run by the Chinese Communist Party, rejected the suggestion by the USA that Beijing was responsible for the North’s pursuit of nuclear arms. Over six countries including the United States, Russia, China, South Koreaand North Korea were actively involved in the rounds of negotiations after being ordered by the United Nations Security Council to denuclearize North Korea.
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South Korea’s defence ministry has now warned that Kim may launch a new nuclear test at any moment.
