ANKARA
South Korean President on Friday claimed that North Korea is ready to conduct a nuclear test at any time, local media reported.
According to US authorities, Pyongyang has completed all preparations and is expected to carry out a nuclear test within the month, Yonhap News Agency quoted President Yoon Suk Yeol as saying.
“We believe that not only at the end of this month, but ever since my inauguration, it’s fully ready and able to do it whenever it decides,” Yoon told reporters.
Yoon’s statement came after his intelligence chief’s recent unannounced visit to Washington.
The tension on the peninsula increased in 2020 when North Korea attacked and blew up the inter-Korean liaison office along the border. Seoul warned of a strong response if Pyongyang “further worsens the situation.”
However, the tensions have further soared on the Korean Peninsula in 2021, when both Seoul and Pyongyang ramped up drills to show off their military might.
Last month, the US, South Korea and Japan announced plans to bolster security ties and agreed to jointly counter threats from North Korea if Pyongyang carries out another nuclear test.
The US and South Korea have extended several offers of dialogue to North Korea to ease current tensions in the Korean Peninsula but North Korea has not responded to them.
On May 27, China and Russia vetoed new UN Security Council sanctions that would have been imposed on North Korea in retaliation for its continued ballistic missile tests, which it conducts in violation of previous council resolutions.
* Writing by Islamuddin Sajid
