North Korea plans third nuclear test

(Reuters) - North Korea,
pressing ahead with a rocket launch in defiance of a UN resolution, is
also preparing a third nuclear weapons test, South Korean news reports
said on Sunday, a move bound to scare neighbours and infuriate the West.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified
intelligence source as saying North Korea was "clandestinely
preparing a nuclear test" at the same location as the first two.
The source added that workers in the destitute North had
been seen in commercial satellite images digging a tunnel in the
northeastern town of Punggye-ri, Kilju County, in addition to
existing mines believed to have been used for tests in 2006 and
2009.
"We have confirmed the (mining) work is coming to its final
stage," the source was quoted as saying.
The satellite imagery showed piles of earth and sand at the
entrance of the tunnel, Yonhap said.
North Korea, which three years ago pulled out of six-party
disarmament talks on its nuclear programme, agreed in February
to stop nuclear tests, uranium enrichment and long-range missile
launches in return for food aid, opening the way to a possible
resumption of the negotiations.
But
that has all since unravelled with the North's rocket launch planned
for this month, probably between Thursday and the following Monday. The
North says it is merely sending a weather satellite into space, but South Korea and the United States say it is a ballistic missile test.
Two previous launches of the long-range missile have failed,
but Washington says the North's missile programme is progressing
quickly and that the American mainland could come under threat
within five years.
U.S. President Barack Obama last month called on North Korea
to curb its nuclear ambitions or face further international
isolation.
He said North Korea could be hit with tighter sanctions if it goes ahead with the launch, but experts doubt China will back another U.N. Security Council resolution against it.
China, Japan
and South Korea, three of the "six parties" along with the United
States and the two Koreas, on Sunday expressed concern over the planned
launch.
The foreign ministers of the three countries, ending their
annual meeting with a joint news conference in the coastal
Chinese city of Ningbo, largely stuck to established positions.
"China expresses our concern for the development of the
situation and urges all relevant parties to take into
consideration the bigger picture and think long-term," Chinese
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said.
Obama has urged China to use its influence to rein in North
Korea instead of "turning a blind eye" to its "deliberate
provocations".
Japan and South Korea reiterated warnings that Pyongyang
would face international consequences if it went ahead with the
launch.
"I made it clear that the international community needs to
make rigorous responses against North Korea's violation of its
obligation as a member country in the world community," South
Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said the launch
would roll back progress Pyongyang has made in talks with
various countries, including with the United States, which has
suspended the planned food aid.

(Reporting by Sean Shim in Seoul and Roystan Chan in Ningbo;
Writing by Michael Martina and Nick Macfie)

Potus Mat wrote:

The goal in war is not to survive. The goal in was is to make sure the enemy does not.

Potus Mat wrote:

Hence why he is trying to improve his power.