According to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, North Korea had completed preparations for a nuclear test and is gauging for the best time yesterday (19th May).
“After North Korea’s first Covid-19 outbreak, the preparations for nuclear weapons test are over, they are just gauging for the right time,” South Korea’s lawmaker Ha Tae-kyung told reporters after receiving report from National Intelligence Service.
United States believed that North Korea is likely to conduct a nuclear test when Biden completed his first visit to Asia as US president. Biden will arrive in Seoul this afternoon (20th May) for a series of summits.
Analyst: North Korea's nuclear test will distract attention from the epidemic
“We’ve indicated in quite clear terms that our intelligence does reflect the genuine possibility that there will be either further missile tests — including a long-range missile test — or a nuclear test or, frankly, both, in the days leading into, on, or after the President’s trip to the region,” US national security adviser Jack Sullivan said.
Satellite imagery also shows that North Korea is preparing to conduct a nuclear weapons test, while the United States and South Korea have warned in the past few weeks that it could launch at anytime.
North Korea announced its first Covid-19 outbreak last week and data shows several hundred thousand people diagnosed with fever daily, analysts afraid nuclear tests could distract North Korea from the outbreak.
