(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) North Korea appears ready to conduct its fourth nuclear test, but no imminent signs have been detected at its main site on its northeastern tip, South Korea's defense chief said Monday.
During a parliamentary interpellation session, Kim Kwan-jin said Pyongyang has prepared for an underground nuclear test at the Punggye-ri site, which was used for the third atomic test a year ago, and has taken "initial steps" for a missile launch at its northwest test site in Tongchang-r
"These things (the nuclear test and the missile launch) depend on the decision by the North Korean leadershi
As seen in the past, the long-range missile test and the nuclear test are connected to each other," Kim told lawmaker
"We are closely watching (the North Korean military) to prepare against any provocations." The communist state is known to have tested an engine for its KN-08 long-range missile just before last year's atomic test, which is seen as efforts to master the technology to build a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missil
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