Less than a week before Election Day in the United States, intelligence from South Korea suggested North Korea has completed preparations for nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
The Defense Intelligence Agency in South Korea on Wednesday gave its latest assessment to the country’s lawmakers during a parliamentary audit, which claimed that North Korea has finished what the intelligence called “internal preparations” for a test at its nuclear site.
The spy agency also warned that the nuclear-armed neighbor, which is ruled by Kim Jong Un, appeared to have prepared for a possibly intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch around the U.S. presidential election, which will be held on November 5.
This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is the test-firing of a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea on July 12, 2023. The Hwasong-18 is…
This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is the test-firing of a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea on July 12, 2023. The Hwasong-18 is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental United States.
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Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
North Korea has vowed that neither Vice President Kamala Harris nor former President Donald Trump, who made history in 2018 as the first sitting U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader to resume denuclearization talks, would make it give up its nuclear weapons after becoming the next president.
The revelation of intelligence from the South came after Kim’s visit to the North’s strategic missile bases and inspection of Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missiles last week. He had called for maintaining “counteraction posture” to launch nuclear missiles promptly.
North Korea is one of nine countries armed with nuclear weapons. It is estimated that Pyongyang has roughly 50 nukes and possesses fissile material for up to 90 warheads, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in June.
The North has also conducted six underground nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017 at Punggye-ri in the country’s northeastern region, its only known nuclear test site.
A demolition ceremony was held at the site in 2018 as Pyongyang claimed that it no longer needed to conduct nuclear tests. However, construction works and other apparent preparations for a seventh test were observed over there last year, according to SIPRI.
North Korea has publicized five types of ICBMs, including the newest Hwasong-18, which is estimated to have a range of 9,320 miles and is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental U.S. after launching from the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
The South Korean spy agency believed that the possible missile launch could be aimed at testing North Korean atmospheric reentry technology, verifying whether the missile’s warhead is capable of reentering Earth’s atmosphere and accurately hitting the target.
Command post facilities of North Korea’s nuclear test site are exploded in Punggye-ri, North Korea, on May 24, 2018. It is the country’s only known nuclear test site.
Command post facilities of North Korea’s nuclear test site are exploded in Punggye-ri, North Korea, on May 24, 2018. It is the country’s only known nuclear test site.
Korea Pool/Yonhap via AP
Meanwhile, a North Korean transporter erector launcher, which is an integrated single vehicle that is capable of transporting, erecting and launching the missile, has been sent to a certain area but without carrying a missile on it, the South Korean intelligence claimed.
In July, South Korea warned that preparations have been made by North Korea to execute a nuclear test when a decision comes, which could be “right before or after” the U.S. presidential election to raise its leverage against Washington.
Newsweek has contacted the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, China, for comment by email.