North Korea has completed its preparations for a nuclear test and is waiting for the right time to do so, a South Korean lawmaker said today on the eve of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Seoul.
“Pyongyang has faced a deadly wave of massive infections with the new coronavirus,” preparations for the nuclear weapons test have been completed and are now being sought only at the right time, “Ha Te-gyeong told the press. the intelligence service in Seoul.
Satellite imagery indicates that North Korea is preparing to conduct a nuclear weapons test, the first since 2017, and the US and South Korean governments have been warning for weeks that it could do so at any time.
Mr. Biden is expected in Seoul tomorrow, Friday, for a series of meetings. This will be his first trip to Asia since taking office.
U.S. intelligence says there is a “real chance” that either long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads or a nuclear weapon could be tested during the president’s trip to South Korea and Japan, he said. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
North Korea officially confirmed the first cases of the new coronavirus last week and has since announced hundreds of thousands of cases of people with “fever” every day. Some experts believe that a possible nuclear test could distract the country from the outbreak of the pandemic.
“We are working closely with our allies” in Seoul and Tokyo on “any eventuality,” according to Sullivan, who also said he discussed the threat with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, yesterday.
North Korea, which faces stifling international sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, has stepped up its missile tests this year, defying Washington’s urges to resume talks.
Pyongyang had declared a moratorium on intercontinental ballistic missile launches (ICBMs) and nuclear weapons tests since 2017. But it had already partially ended it in March, launching an intercontinental ballistic missile.
He conducted six nuclear weapons tests from 2006 to 2017.
The 79-year-old US president, for whom the US-China confrontation will be at the center of geopolitical developments in the coming years, wants to strengthen Washington’s alliance with Seoul and Tokyo and more broadly in Asia. He will meet with the leaders of the two countries and take part in a meeting of the Quad (“Quartet”), a diplomatic corps in which, in addition to the United States, Japan, India and Australia are participating.
Biden is not scheduled to go to the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, his spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said yesterday.
The last time a US president went there is etched in the memories of many – Donald Trump had met with Kim Jong Un at the very strictly guarded borders of the two states, which are typically still at war.
The “personal relationship” that Mr. Trump claimed he had with President Trump did not bring any tangible progress.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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