N Korea ‘Always Ready’ For More Nuclear Tests

But Yonhap news agency, citing unidentified Seoul government sources, reported Monday there were signs the North had finished test preparations at one tunnel that has never been used.

North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test last Friday, resulting in another round of worldwide condemnation.

North Korea on Friday set off its most powerful nuclear explosion to date, saying it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile, ratcheting up a threat that its rivals and the United Nations have been powerless to contain.

The warning of additional test is based on three tunnels excavated at Punggye-ri near which all of its underground nuclear tests were conducted.

South Korea’s military also started talking publicly about its military capabilities, revealing it has retaliation plans involving precision-strike missiles and special operations forces for direct attacks on the North’s leadership in the case of a North Korean nuclear attack.

The Security Council resolution adopted in March following the North’s fourth nuclear test in January exempted North Korean exports of coal and some other minerals for “livelihood purposes” from a trade ban, which was seen as a loophole that would be hard monitor.

“We will be working very closely in the Security Council and beyond to come up with the strongest possible measure against North Korea’s latest actions”, said USA envoy Sung Kim on Sunday. Yonhap did not elaborate.

Video: What Is North Korea’s Missile Capability?

It said the U.S. was “the root cause” of the issue.

Yonhap said Sunday that the plan would turn areas in Pyongyang, where the North’s war commanders were likely to hide, into ashes and “eliminate those places from the map permanently”.

The South’s Defence Ministry could not immediately confirm the report, but the military has vowed to take strong actions to retaliate in the event of an attack by the North. That marked a change after many years when North Korea did not send its foreign minister to the NY gathering.

Friday’s widely condemned test has ratcheted up tension and led to fierce rhetoric from South Korea. Regional disarmament-for-aid talks on the North’s nuclear ambitions have not been held since late 2008.

The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.