North Korea has completed preparations for a nuclear test and is waiting for the best time to conduct that test. A South Korean MP said this on the eve of US President Joe Biden’s visit to South Korea.
Despite the recent wave of Covid-19 in North Korea, “preparations for a nuclear test have been completed, and they are just looking for the right time” to conduct it, MP Ha Tae-keung reports, reportedly based on information from South Korean intelligence.
Satellite images would indicate that North Korea is preparing to conduct a nuclear test. The United States and South Korea have been warning for weeks that it could happen at any moment. US President Biden will arrive in Seoul on Friday for a series of summits. It is his first trip to Asia as president.
“Our intelligence points to the real possibility of nuclear-capable missile tests or a nuclear weapons test at the time of President Biden’s trip,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday.
North Korea announced its first corona cases last week and is now reporting several hundred thousand cases of “fever” a day. Several experts believe a nuclear test could help distract the public from the outbreak.