North Korea is ready to conduct another nuclear test, says South

SEOUL: North Korea is ready to conduct another nuclear test at any time, South Korea’s defence ministry said on Monday, just days after Pyongyang sparked worldwide

SEOUL: North Korea is ready to conduct another nuclear test at any time, South Korea’s defence ministry said on Monday, just days after Pyongyang sparked worldwide condemnation with its fifth and most powerful test.

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“An additional test could be conducted in a tunnel that branches off from the second tunnel or in the third tunnel, where preparations have been completed,” ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Gyun told reporters.

The spokesperson declined to elaborate, citing intelligence matters, but said the South’s military is on full combat-readiness to respond to “further nuclear tests, ballistic missile launches or land provocation” by the North.

Citing an unidentified government official, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported earlier on Monday that Pyongyang had completed preparations for another nuclear test in its previously unused third tunnel at the Punggye-ri site in the northeast.

The North conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006 in the first tunnel and the last four tests in the second tunnel, according to Seoul’s defence ministry.

In a statement hailing the “success” of its test on Friday, the North vowed to take “further measures” to increase its nuclear strike force “in quality and in quantity”.