Seoul says North Korea capable of another nuclear test

The Hermit Kingdom has test launched ballistic missiles capable of reaching South Korea, Japan and the U.S. territory of Guam this year.

FILE – In this file photo taken on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016, a South Korean protester shouts slogans during a rally denouncing North Korea’s latest nuclear test in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016. He did not elaborate on what loopholes he was referring to.

Under the 32-year-old, who took over control of the isolated state after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in 2011, North Korea has sped up its nuclear weapons programme despite United Nations economics sanctions being tightened in March.

The revved-up warning came right after the North carried out its fifth nuclear warhead detonation test on Friday in defiance of global warnings.

Bad weather Monday delayed for at least 24 hours a USA plan to send warplanes from Guam to South Korea, as it has done after past provocations by North Korea. She cited a Chinese saying – “Whoever started the trouble should end it” – in calling on the U.S.to “take on its due responsibility”. However, North Korea on Sunday called such attempts “laughable”, maintaining its determination to further strengthen its nuclear power.

Citing unidentified government sources, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported signs that the North had finished test preparations in one previously unused tunnel at Punggy-ri. The U.S. military said some aircraft will be deployed Tuesday but declined to disclose what type or how many planes.

A group of 31 South Korean conservative lawmakers said the country should have nuclear weapons, either by acquiring its own arms or asking the Americans to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons that were withdrawn from the South under a 1991 pact for the denuclearization of the peninsula.

The flight is reportedly intended as a show of force for Pyongyang, which conducted its fifth nuclear test on Friday, prompting a harsh response from South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who accused the North of “maniacal recklessness”.

Concern has been growing that the country is testing weapons at an unprecedented pace this year, continuing to improve its nuclear and missile capabilities. The United States, Britain and France – three of the five veto-wielding permanent members – pushed for the 15-member body to impose new sanctions.

President Barack Obama said the US would never accept North Korea as a nuclear power.