North Korea is “ready to conduct” a nuclear weapons test, South Korean Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup said at the Pentagon on Thursday.
Lee’s Thursday visit to the Pentagon, where he met with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, came just hours after North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile test that supposedly failed, which occurred a day after the North fired nearly two dozen missile tests.
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“They are ready to conduct the nuclear test,” Lee said through a translator. “But when they will carry out the nuclear test is currently still a curiosity, as North Korea will have to take into account the political purpose, and to exactly estimate when they will carry out the nuclear test is a difficulty for us as well.”
John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said earlier this week that a nuclear test, which would be North Korea’s first in five years, could come “at any time.”
“It’s difficult to predict with any degree of certainty what the triggering event might be for Kim Jong Un to conduct any number of provocations that he has in recent weeks or he might in future weeks,” Kirby told reporters. “So I would say, in general, our concern remains high, and consistently so, about the potential for a nuclear test.”
The two defense leaders met as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to launch missile tests at an unprecedented rate in the face of Western condemnation and sanctions. The continued tests have raised the tension level on the Korean Peninsula.
The South Korean Defense Ministry said North Korea launched 23 short-range missiles on Wednesday of varying types to the east and west of the peninsula, which marks the highest number they’ve fired in a single day. Seoul, in response, launched three air-to-surface missiles from F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets.
The two leaders, in a written communique, threatened that if Kim were to use a nuclear weapon, they would end his regime.
“Secretary Austin reiterated the firm U.S. commitment to providing extended deterrence to the ROK utilizing the full range of U.S. defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, and missile defense capabilities and advanced non-nuclear capabilities,” the communique continued. “He noted that any nuclear attack against the United States or its Allies and partners, including the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime.”
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Lee later said he didn’t believe tactical nuclear weapons were needed to deter North Korea, in line with his country’s denuclearization policy.
“There is no change in our denuclearization policy, and for now … we are currently not thinking to deploy tactical nukes on the Korean Peninsula,” he explained.
