North Korea prepared for nuclear test, possibly before US election: Seoul defense intel agency

The National Assembly intelligence committee is briefed by South Korean defense intelligence authorities on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

The Defense Intelligence Agency in Seoul said Wednesday that North Korea may conduct its first nuclear weapons test in seven years ahead of the US presidential election, in what would be its seventh such test.

In a closed-door briefing to the National Assembly intelligence committee, the Defense Intelligence Agency said North Korea will attempt to draw Washington’s attention by staging a major provocation such as a nuclear test ahead of the election that is less than a week away.

“North Korea will try to show off its advancing nuclear program before the US presidential election,” Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Park Sun-won told reporters, citing the Defense Intelligence Agency. “A seventh nuclear test is a possibility that cannot be ruled out.”

In a rare move, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a public show out of his visit to a uranium enrichment facility last month.

According to Park, the Defense Intelligence Agency said the nuclear facilities in Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province -- where North Korea conducted its past six nuclear weapons tests -- appeared to be “nearly ready.”

This deviates from an earlier determination by National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong, who told lawmakers last month that if North Korea were to carry out another nuclear test, it would be after rather than before the US election.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik said in a televised interview last month that North Korea going forward with a nuclear test around the time of the US presidential election was “entirely possible.”

“North Korea is capable of conducting a seventh nuclear test any time Kim Jong-un so pleases,” Shin said. “When that might be depends on its perceived strategic advantage, which might very well be in the run up to or following the US presidential election.”

The last time North Korea carried out a nuclear test was in September 2017 when Democratic Party President Moon Jae-in was in office.

Also at Wednesday’s briefing at the Assembly, the Defense Intelligence Agency said North Korea was “prepared to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile-class missile,” which has enough range to reach the US mainland.

“The missile has not been placed on a mobile launcher but it has been deployed at a specific location, which suggests a possible launch sometime in November, either before or after the US presidential election,” Park said.

According to the lawmaker, the Defense Intelligence Agency said that the anti-Kim Jong-un broadcasts aired through South Korean loudspeakers appeared to be having some effect on North Korea’s border troops.

“One North Korean soldier at a border guard post was seen dancing to the broadcasts,” he said.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Command found that the South Korean broadcasts at the border were failing to deter North Korean provocations such as trash balloon releases, according to a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff memo obtained by The Korea Herald.

By Kim Arin(arin@heraldcorp.com)