Seoul: N. Korea prepared for new nuclear test

North Korea is ready at all times to conduct another nuclear test after it conducted what analysts say was its biggest test to date last week, South Korea's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"An additional test could be conducted in a tunnel that branches off from the second tunnel or in the third tunnel, where preparations have been completed," Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Gyun told reporters at a press briefing.

Moon added that, while she couldn't elaborate due to intelligence matters, South Korea's military is on full combat readiness to respond to "further nuclear tests, ballistic launches or land provocation" by Pyongyang.

Last week, North Korea conducted its fifth and largest nuclear test, saying it has the ability to mount a warhead to an intercontinental ballistic missile, prompting fears of an imminent attack. The experiment marked the second time the communist nation tested an atomic bomb in 2016.

"North Korea went ahead with two nuclear tests in just nine months. This is absolutely unacceptable," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told his senior military officials.

The US State Department's special representative for North Korea policy said Washington and Tokyo are working closely "to come up with the strongest possible measures against North Korea's latest action."

The UN Security Council said it would begin work on a new resolution to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program.

But five sets of UN sanctions have failed to halt North Korea from continuing to develop nuclear weapons since its first test in October 2006.

ls/gsw (Reuters, AFP, AP)