A North Korean nuclear test within days “cannot be ruled out,” analysts said yesterday, after new satellite imagery showed heightened activity at the test site.
The report by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) chimes with other findings and suggests Pyongyang is moving toward an underground detonation.
Pictures taken on Friday — the first day of US President Barack Obama’s visit to neighboring South Korea — show an increase in movement near one entrance to a tunnel.
“The images show in particular activity at the south portal of the site, a possible site for North Korea’s next nuclear test, and in the main support area,” the ISIS said in a press release.
Analysis of satellite images taken on Wednesday and released by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University showed increased activity at the Punggye-ri test site.
This was “probably related to preparations for a detonation,” the institute said on its closely followed 38 North Web site.
ISIS said higher resolution imagery taken on Friday confirmed that analysis and suggested the preparations were continuing.
“On April 23, several containers were located in front of one of the South Portal’s tunnel entrances,” ISIS said. “The higher resolution April 25 imagery shows more clearly what appears to be this collection of boxes or containers near this tunnel entrance.”
North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and last year, despite huge international pressure to halt its program, and its activity is being keenly watched.
However, the regime is notoriously unpredictable and observers warn that it is possible that the preparations are a feint for the benefit of the satellites that Pyongyang knows are watching.
The North has a long record of making threats in an effort to extract aid or concessions from the international community.
Activity at the site is being watched particularly carefully because of Obama’s presence in the region amid speculation Pyongyang would like to thumb its nose at the US.
“Test site preparations do not necessarily mean that a test will occur in the next few days. North Korea has made preparations before and not tested,” ISIS said.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
RSS