AFP
Saturday, January 6, 2007
North Korea appears fully prepared to carry out a second nuclear
test but is unlikely to go ahead in the immediate future, a South
Korean legislator said Sunday.
Chung Hyung-Keun, who served as a deputy chief of the National
Intelligence Service in the 1990s, said unusual personnel and
construction activity had recently been detected at Punggye in
the northeast where the first nuclear test was staged on October
9.
But Chung, in an article posted on his website, said the communist
state is unlikely to go ahead until it knows the outcome of an
expected new round of six-nation talks on its nuclear program,
and of scheduled negotiations with the United States on financial
sanctions.
Chung quoted a government source as saying an unidentified object
and up to 15 people were spotted at the west side of a tunnel
at Punggye that was used for the first test.
"Chances are very high that the North Korean workers moved
the facilities into the tunnel to prepare for an additional nuclear
test," the opposition Grand National Party legislator told
Yonhap news agency.
A South Korean foreign ministry official said Friday that activity
has been detected near the site of the first test but there are
no signs yet of preparations for a second test.
The official was speaking after US television network ABC reported
that North Korea appears to have prepared for a repeat test.
The latest round of six-nation talks on the North's nuclear programme
ended in Beijing in December without a breakthrough. The State
Department said Friday the talks could resume as early as this
month.
Financial officials from North Korea and the US are also scheduled
to meet later this month to try to resolve a row over US financial
sanctions imposed over the North's alleged counterfeiting and
other illegal activities.
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