Pyongyang plans to test a third nuclear warhead

The DPRK authorities announced their intention to conduct further nuclear tests and continue launching long-range missiles. They also admitted that these activities are ultimately directed against Pyongyang's "arch enemy" the United States.

“We do not hide the fact that the satellites and long-range missiles that we will continue to launch, as well as the high-level nuclear tests that we will conduct, are directed against our arch enemy the United States,” the DPRK State National Defense Committee said. At the same time, the military emphasized that another phase of the confrontation between Pyongyang and Washington has begun.

Let us recall that the first nuclear tests were carried out by North Korean specialists in 2006 and 2009. A few days ago, information appeared in the South Korean media that Pyongyang was ready for a third explosion. According to intelligence reports, a new tunnel has been dug at the nuclear test site in the Punggye-ni area of Hamgyong-buk-do province, with test equipment already installed inside it. If a political decision is made to conduct a nuclear test, it can be implemented in just a few days. At the same time, according to South Korea, this time a nuclear warhead with enriched uranium, and not plutonium, as before, may be detonated.

Experts associate such a harsh statement by the State National Defense Committee of the DPRK with the adoption by the UN Security Council of a resolution expanding the list of sanctions against Pyongyang. In particular, the North Korean Space Agency was included in the new list. The document, prepared in connection with the December 12 launch of the Unha-3 ballistic missile, was the result of joint work between China and the United States, whose positions in the UN Security Council rarely coincide. The resolution was also supported by Russia.

Pavel Tarasenko

North Korea targets the US