SEOUL: South Korea’s national spy agency said North Korea’s first nuclear test since 2017, if it takes place, is likely to be conducted between Oct. 16-Nov. 7, the Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday.
Earlier this year, it emerged that North Korea may be making rapid preparations to carry out a nuclear weapons test for the first time in more than four years.
The Yonhap news agency, quoting government sources, said North Korea appeared to be digging a “shortcut” to Tunnel 3 at its previously closed nuclear test site in Punggye-ri.
Analysts at the Centre for Non-Proliferation Studies (CNS) had said at the beginning of March that satellite images showed signs of rebuilding at the site, but that getting it back up and running could take months or years. Now, Kim Jong-un’s regime may have changed tack.
“[The North] abruptly stopped its initial construction work to restore the entrance to Tunnel 3, and it is digging up the side [of the tunnel],” Yonhap quoted a source as saying. “In this way, it seems like it will be possible to restore [the facilities] in a month.”
