Intelligence officials had said earlier this year they have detected at least two new tunnels at the North’s nuclear test site in apparent preparation for a third atomic detonation following those made in 2006 and 2009.
Pyongyang also unveiled to an outside expert last November what is said to be a sophisticated uranium enrichment facility, sparking regional fears and moves to bring the case to the U.N. Security Council for condemnation. Uranium, when highly enriched, could give the communist state a second way to produce nuclear bombs, in addition to the existing plutonium.
“Yes, there is always a possibility of another nuclear test as (the North) has various nuclear test sites and is also constructing new ones,” Seoul’s National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-Hoon told a parliamentary session Tuesday.
Pyongyang was faced with the deepest international isolation ever after leaving the six-nation denuclearization talks at the end of 2008 and conducting a second nuclear test.
The North, for decades, has employed a two-track strategy of offering to discuss denuclearization with dialogue partners ― South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Russia and China ― while keeping up its nuclear ambitions. (read more)