South Korea warns of possible North Korean nuclear test after US presidential election
South Korean authorities said Thursday that there are indications that North Korea may carry out its seventh nuclear test after the presidential elections scheduled for the United States in November.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) has indicated that after a series of evaluations it has concluded that Pyongyang will give priority, at least for the moment, to launching intercontinental ballistic missiles , as it has been doing for the past few years.
In a report submitted to the Parliament’s Intelligence Committee, the NIS said that this measure can be read as an attempt to wait for the results of the US elections, while at the domestic level “it can be seen as an attempt to increase confidence among the population in the face of the serious economic situation” that the country is experiencing.
Double nuclear weapons
South Korean authorities have also warned that North Korea has around 70 kilograms of plutonium and a “significant amount” of highly enriched uranium , enough to double its nuclear arsenal, according to the Yonhap news agency.
In July, a report by the Federation of American Scientists concluded that Pyongyang may have produced enough fissile material to build up to 90 nuclear warheads , but said it had probably assembled about 50 so far.
Seoul believes that reports of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ‘s visits to uranium enrichment sites are intended to “send a message” to US authorities , especially during the election campaign. However, it has not ruled out that these visits also have a propaganda component at the domestic level.
Pyongyang continues to claim that its only goal is to “protect itself” from the threat to its existence posed by countries such as South Korea and the United States , and claims that its nuclear arsenal and the launching of ballistic missiles are necessary to “counteract” this danger.
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