North Korea has been continuing tests of weapons, including short-range missiles in the run-up to its Seventh Party Congress, to be held in early May.
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Such a weapon test would be the communist state’s first since January, when Pyongyang claimed it detonated a hydrogen bomb.
The North claimed the launch was only meant to place an Earth observation satellite into orbit, but the UNSC denounced it as a long-range ballistic missile test and adopted a new series of sanctions. “Our first priority is to protect the American people and our allies – Republic of Korea, Japan – that are vulnerable to the provocative actions that North Korea is engaging in”.
North Korean soldiers keep watch as U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and his South Korean counterpart Han Min-Koo (both not pictured) visit the truce village of Panmunjom, in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, South Korea, November 1, 2015.
It will be the first time the congress, the highest-level decision-making party organ, will be held since 1980, when Kim’s late dictator father Kim Jong-il was awarded a slew of top jobs in a confirmation that he was in line to succeed his father, North Korea founder Kim Il-sung.
The US described Pyongyang’s previous attempt to launch what is believed to be a Musudan missile as “fiery, catastrophic”.
President Barack Obama delivered a stern warning to North Korea yesterday, reminding its “erratic” and “irresponsible” leader that America’s nuclear arsenal could “destroy” his country.
South Korea, and others nervously watching the North’s defiance of United Nations sanctions aimed at curbing its nuclear and ballistic missile technologies, expect another test within days.
Toner said the past steps against North Korea included sanctions and security measures but declined to elaborate on other options under consideration.
Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said: “Considering the state of readiness at the nuclear test site, it’s our view that a nuclear test can happen at any time”.
North Korea in recent weeks has repeatedly threatened to strike the presidential palace and government buildings in Seoul amid annual joint military drills between the United States and South Korea.
Also according to the NIS report, a group of 13 North Koreans working in a restaurant in Ningbo in China’s eastern Zhejiang province who defected to the South earlier this month was supposed to have been larger. South Korean officials often refuse to discuss North Korea’s weapons systems publicly because they involve confidential military intelligence.
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A successful test from a submarine would be a worrying development because mastering the ability to fire missiles from submerged vessels would make it harder for outsiders to detect what North Korea is doing before it launches, giving it the potential to surprise its enemies.
