By Jun Ji-hye
The Ministry of National Defense said Monday that North Korea may detonate a thermonuclear warhead in an underground nuclear test.
The ministry said Pyongyang is capable of carrying out such a test at any time if its leadership decides to do so.
“The latest development in North Korea indicates the possibility that the regime may conduct an underground nuclear test,” spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told reporters. “South Korea and the United States are keeping a close watch on developments.”
Moon said military authorities are paying attention to claims made by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on March 15 that his regime will test a nuclear warhead “in a short time.”
The isolated state also claimed, March 9, that it had successfully miniaturized nuclear warheads to fit on ballistic missiles. At the time, Kim was quoted as saying by the North’s state-run Korea Central News Agency, “It is a very great warhead that is designed in a reasonable structure that enables an instantaneous thermonuclear reaction using our own style of mixed explosives.”
Regarding the North’s claims, Defense Minister Han Min-koo told reporters April 6 that the next nuclear test by the reclusive state could involve the underground detonation of a missile-capable nuclear device.
Speculation has been rising that the North may carry out the test to coincide with the seventh Workers’ Party Congress that is expected to take place early next month.
U.S.-based North Korea monitoring website 38 North and other reports also said activities at the North’s main nuclear test site in Punggye-ri have appeared to be increasing.
In preparation of any possibility of provocative actions from the North, President Park Geun-hye called on the South Korean military to maintain firm defensive readiness, Monday.
“It is hard to forecast exactly what the North will do to avoid international isolation and enhance solidarity within the country,” she told a meeting of senior secretaries held at Cheong Wa Dae. “It has also been detected that the North has been preparing for its fifth nuclear test.”
Pyongyang has so far conducted four nuclear tests ― in 2006, 2009, 2013 and Jan. 6 this year.
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