South Korea's defense intelligence agency indicates that North Korea is prepared to conduct its seventh nuclear test promptly if leader Kim Jong-un decides, lawmakers said. The test, using the No. 3 tunnel at Punggye-ri, could happen in a short time and would be the first since 2017. Pyongyang is also intensifying efforts to secure nuclear materials and build warhead manufacturing facilities.
On Wednesday, Rep. Park Sun-won of the ruling Democratic Party and Rep. Lee Seong-kweun of the main opposition People Power Party, who co-chair the parliamentary intelligence committee, told reporters that North Korea could conduct a nuclear test in a short time using the No. 3 tunnel at Punggye-ri if leader Kim Jong-un decides, following a closed-door audit of the Defense Intelligence Agency. This would mark Pyongyang's seventh underground nuclear test, with the last one in 2017.
According to the agency's assessment, North Korea is intensifying efforts to secure nuclear materials and establishing various manufacturing facilities for nuclear warheads. Meanwhile, it is preparing to launch another spy satellite capable of higher-resolution imagery than its existing one, with technological assistance from Russia. The North successfully launched its first military spy satellite, Malligyong-1, in November 2023 and vowed to launch three more in 2024, but has not done so since a rocket exploded shortly after takeoff in May last year.
The agency also reported that North Korea is partially operating the shuttered Kaesong Industrial Complex, running facilities to manufacture everyday necessities. Rep. Park said he was briefed that North Korean residents were shaken after South Korea's drone infiltration operation into Pyongyang in October last year, prompting war preparations. "I was briefed that the North Korean residents were shaken (after the drone infiltration) and North Korea began preparing itself for war," Park said. In response, the South Korean military reportedly flew an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter near the military demarcation line and deployed additional unmanned aerial vehicles across the border.
