Seoul, Oct 30 (EFE).- South Korean intelligence services said Wednesday that Pyongyang had completed preparations to carry out a new nuclear test and an intercontinental ballistic missile launch, adding that it could carry out these weapons tests imminently.<\/p>
South Korean Defense Intelligence Agency conveyed this information to a group of South Korean parliamentarians at one of their regular meetings, ruling party lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told local media at the end of the meeting.<\/p>
North Korea could carry out one of the tests “to try to bring up the nuclear issue before the US presidential elections,” Lee said about the intelligence service’s report to the South Korean agency Yonhap.<\/p>
Specifically, the agency said Pyongyang seems to have completed internal preparations at the remote Punggye-ri test center to carry out what would be its seventh nuclear test.<\/p>
The North Korean army would also have “almost completed” preparations to carry out a new missile launch, “including space launch vehicles” and the deployment of mobile erector launchers in certain areas, according to Seoul.<\/p>
North Korea failed in its last attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit at the end of May, and aimed to try new launches this year after successfully orbiting the first one in November and after two previous failed attempts that same year.<\/p>
Both Seoul and Tokyo have denounced North Korea’s space launches as involving the use of its own intercontinental ballistic missile technology, which is prohibited by United Nations sanctions.<\/p>
Experts had already said North Korea could develop weapons in the near future, in the context of escalating tensions with Seoul and Pyongyang’s growing military cooperation with Russia, which has included the transfer of North Korean troops to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine.<\/p>
Some analysts have said Kim Jong-un’s regime could obtain technical assistance from Moscow for its satellite systems or for its nuclear developments in exchange for sending weapons and troops to the Ukrainian front. EFE<\/p>
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