South Korea’s spy agency predicts Pyongyang is preparing to carry out additional nuclear tests, after noting “active movement” of vehicles around a missile research institute in Pyongyang.
A report based on South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) information which has been seen by CNN also said Pyongyang will continue to “push for the development of miniaturized, diversified nuclear warheads.”
The report was co-written by Rep. Kim Byung-kee and other members of South Korea’s parliamentary intelligence committee after a closed-door briefing by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Thursday.
“Tunnel 3 (at the Punggye-ri test site) is ready to carry out a nuclear test at any time,” the report notes.
North Korea last claimed to have successfully conducted a test of a hydrogen bomb in early September — the country’s sixth nuclear test. That explosion created a magnitude-6.3 tremor, making it the most powerful weapon Pyongyang has ever tested.
On Thursday, the regime dismissed regional press reports that one tunnel at the underground nuclear test site collapsed after Pyongyang’s sixth missile test in September, killing hundreds of North Korean workers.
A report from state news agency KCNA accused Japan of circulating “fake news” after its TV Asahi carried a report, citing an unnamed North Korean official claiming up to 200 people were killed in a tunnel collapse.
In addition to a potential future nuclear test, North Korea is working on an advanced version of its existing KN-20 intercontinental ballistic missile that could potentially reach the United States, less than six months after it launched its first ICBM, a US official told CNN.
Additional improvements are underway to North Korea’s nuclear fuel, missile launchers, guidance and targeting systems as well, officials say. All of this comes as President Donald Trump is about to travel to Asia, where North Korea’s weapons will be a major topic of discussion.
In the first 10 months of this year, North Korea launched 22 missiles and tested a hydrogen bomb, while threatening to fire missiles over the US territory of Guam and conduct an atmospheric nuclear test.
Last month, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Washington “does not accept a nuclear North Korea” and said “any use of nuclear weapons by the North will be met with a massive military response, effective and overwhelming.”