SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea is capable of detonating another nuclear device at its main atomic test site any time it chooses, Seoul officials said Monday, as the United States reportedly planned to send two nuclear-capable supersonic bombers to the South in a show of force against Pyongyang.
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“North Korea has a tunnel where it can conduct an additional nuclear test”, Moon said.
The North also boasted that the test was of a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on a missile.
On Monday, Yonhap cited an unnamed government source as saying reports indicated the North had finished preparations for a further test, in previously unused tunnel at the Punggye-ri site deep underneath mountains in the north-east. Punggye-ri, near the northeastern coast, is the site of the North’s five nuclear explosions.
His trip comes amid a fresh push by the United States and South Korea for more sanctions following the nuclear test.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets scientists and technicians in the field of research into nuclear weapons in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang March 9, 2016. That marked a change after many years when North Korea did not send its foreign minister to the NY gathering.
It has also experimented with submarine-launched ballistic missiles – potentially meaning it could sneak up on Britain or the U.S. and fire an apocalypse rocket from the water.
The envoy will arrive in Seoul later Monday and hold talks with his South Korean counterpart Kim Hong-Kyun on Tuesday morning.
A former US ambassador to South Korea told CNBC’s ” Squawk Box ” on Monday that the US, China and South Korea needed to step up discussions on how to handle the rogue state.
Yonhap reported that a planned USA military B-1B bomber flight to the Korean peninsula had been scheduled for Monday but was delayed because of bad weather.
Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy to North Korea said the UN Security Council along with Japan, South Korea and the United States are examining additional unilateral measures.
“North Korea sees sanctions really as a justification for further development of the nuclear weapons”, said Baker. “In other words, the North’s capital city will be reduced to ashes and removed from the map”, the source said, following the latest attempt by the North to showcase its nuclear capabilities.
“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.
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Chinese state-run newspaper The Global Times said in an editorial, meanwhile, that Beijing could not be blamed for North Korea’s actions and instead blamed the US.
