South Korea’s Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun said Monday that South Korea and USA intelligence authorities believe North Korea has the ability to detonate another atomic device anytime at its main Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where the five previous atomic explosions took place.
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The detection Friday of North Korea’s fifth nuclear test brought new pressure on China, Pyongyang’s economic lifeline and the closest thing it has to a political ally.
The state report did not mentioned the exact date and place of the nuke test. Sources from Seoul disclosed that it occurred in the Punggye-ri nuclear test site close to China border.
The flight is reportedly intended as a show of force for Pyongyang, which conducted its fifth nuclear test on Friday, prompting a harsh response from South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who accused the North of “maniacal recklessness”.
North Korea says its tests are meant to build a nuclear deterrent to defend the country against the United States.
The South Korean defense ministry has also presented the “Korea Massive Punishment & Retaliation” to the national assembly, “aimed at wiping a certain section of Pyongyang completely off the map”, Yonhap quoted a military source as saying.
Under the 32-year-old, who took over control of the isolated state after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in 2011, North Korea has sped up its nuclear weapons programme despite United Nations economics sanctions being tightened in March.
A USA special envoy for the isolated state, Sung Kim, will travel to Seoul on Monday after discussing cooperation among neighbouring countries in Tokyo in the wake of the North’s latest nuclear test.
Meanwhile the Global Times, run by the Chinese Communist Party, rejected the suggestion by the U.S. that Beijing was responsible for the North’s pursuit of nuclear arms.
According to BBC’s Korea correspondent, Steve Evans, there is growing criticism within South Korea that its attempt at slowing down the North in its nuclear program is utterly failing in preventing Kim Jong-un from furthering its alarming experiments.
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. The U.S. military said some aircraft will be deployed Tuesday but declined to disclose what type or how many planes.
The delay of at least 24 hours was due to bad weather conditions in Guam, Yonhap said, citing an unidentified US Forces Korea official.
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North Korea repeated its demand for recognition as a “legitimate” nuclear-armed state on Sunday. It said the United States was “the root cause” of the issue.
