N. Korea poised to conduct 4th nuclear test, and ICBM launch

http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2014/02_26/ne.asp

 

N. Korea poised to conduct another nuclear test, ICBM launch

Intelligence sources from major regional countries have concluded that North Korea is poised to conduct its fourth nuclear test and likely another ICBM launch.

Location of the Mount Baekdu and Punggye-ri test sites.

U.S.-based satellite monitoring facilities have published images of North Korea's nuclear test site at Punggye-ri where all previous three nuke tests were conducted.

These new images show that a new tunnel has been dug to prepare for another underground nuclear test. Based upon the amount of excavated earth piled up outside the new tunnel, the new nuclear test is expected to be double the size of the previous one.

U.S. national intelligence chief James Clapper stated to the Congress two weeks ago that North Korea was actively enriching uranium, and the nuclear reactor used for producing plutonium had been reactivated.

Clapper also told Congress that he believed the Pyongyang regime was beginning to prepare for launching road-mobile ICBMs.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited South Korea last week to beef up solidarity with Seoul in a joint deterrence against the North.

"Let me be clear," Mr. Kerry said in a news conference while in Seoul, "The United States will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. We will not accept talks for the sake of talks."