A sixth North Korean nuclear test could be imminent

Posted on : 2017-03-26 08:30 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
US officials detect evidence of excavation around nuclear test site in North Korea, dispatch reconnaissance aircraft
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed the test of a high power rocket engine on Mar. 19
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed the test of a high power rocket engine on Mar. 19

North Korea is in the final stages of preparation for carrying out another nuclear test in a few days, Fox News reported on Mar. 23.

“The [sixth] test could come as early as the end of the month,” Fox News quoted one US government official as saying in the report.

Pentagon officials said they had acquired evidence that North Korea has finished excavating a new tunnel near its nuclear test site at Punggye Village, Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province. Before it can carry out a nuclear test, the officials added, the North still needs to bring in a few more pieces of equipment to the test site.

The Pentagon is currently watching these developments closely, Fox News reported. AFP also quoted an unnamed defense official as saying that signs had been detected around North Korea’s nuclear test site that are similar to previous nuclear tests. If the North carries out a nuclear test this month, it would be six months since the previous one on Sep. 9, 2016.

In response, the US has hurriedly dispatched to Japan a WC-135 Constant Phoenix, a special-purpose reconnaissance plane with the US air force that can detect radioactive material in the air. Another official said that the WC-135 would be carrying out reconnaissance around the Korean Peninsula within a few days. At the time of North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in Jan. 2016 and its fifth nuclear test in Sept. 2016, the US reportedly deployed one WC-135 at the Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Russia also relocated a reconnaissance plane that can detect nuclear, biological and chemical agents from a base on the outskirts of St. Petersburg toward the Korean Peninsula, Fox News reported. In an analysis of commercial satellite images that had been taken recently, 38 North, an American website specializing in North Korea, concluded that a substantial amount of excavation work was taking place at the entrance to the northern tunnel at the Punggye Village nuclear test site.

“The Joint Chiefs of Staff believe that North Korea is capable of carrying out a nuclear test whenever its leaders make up their mind to do so,” said Noh Jae-cheon, public relations officer for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Mar. 24.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent and Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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