North Korea ready to test a nuclear weapon, claims South Korean prime minister

‘We always have preparations for that kind of very undesirable action’

Television screens show a news report about the latest North Korean missile launch with file footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at an electronic market in Seoul (AFP via Getty Images)

The Kim Jong-un led regime in North Korea is geared to test a nuclear weapon and will likely roll it out soon, South Korean prime minister Han Duck-soo said, but did not specify when it could happen.

It is "hard to know exactly when" North Korea will test its nuclear weapon but "we gather that they are prepared", Mr Han told Sky News.

"We always have preparations for that kind of very undesirable action," Mr Han said, adding that Seoul “cannot say at this moment what kind of response will be made.”

"But clearly we would like to have some kind of extended deterrence capabilities, including all kinds of options," he told the British television channel.

South Korea reached out to China to back up the country’s efforts to engage North Korea in a dialogue.

South Korean foreign minister Park Jin held a video conference with his Chinese counterpart and raised concerns about North Korea’s actions, including a record number of ballistic missile launches this year.

The top South Korean official urged that North Korea must refrain from further provocations, such as potential nuclear tests, and engage in dialogue, the country’s foreign affairs ministry said.

He told Wang Yi that Seoul expects China to actively support South Korea’s efforts for dialogue with North Korea.

The Chinese foreign minister said that his country will play a constructive role in the Korean peninsula issue.

The top leader’s remarks come as the tensions between North and South Korea have soared to a high, with Pyongyang firing more than 75 missiles into eastern waters just this year — including an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the US and another which overflew Japan marking a significant escalation in East Asia.

Mr Han told Sky News that Seoul will “secure our peace on our terms, not on terms dictated by North Korea”. Last month, North Korea accused the US of throwing the Korean peninsula into a security crisis with “very dangerous military drills of the US and South Korea and their greedy arms buildup aiming” at the DPRK.

"You may call our strengthening our deterrence capabilities the ‘harder line,’ but that’s a natural course for any country increasing the level of self-reliance in terms of security,” Mr Han said, rejecting reports blaming the new regime this year for derailing the bilateral ties between the two nations.

Mr Han also said that Mr Kim would like to deliver some message by announcing to the world about his daughter possibly as the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile is a huge feat for the hermit kingdom.

The North Korean leader’s second daughter, believed to be named Ju Ae and around 9-10 years old, was first launched in front of the world alongside Mr Kim, observing and recceing the site of North Korea’s ballistic missile launch last month with other older Korean officials present.

Experts have called the move by Mr Kim a cryptic message, likely aimed at showing his succession plans to the world.

"The launching of an intercontinental missile will be, without any doubt, a big thing for North Korea. If he would like to show something, then that would be a very opportune time,” the South Korean prime minister said in the interview.

With North Korea’s increasing display of its military muscle and refusal to end the stalemate in the Korean peninsula as the global eyes remain on the Ukraine war, tensions in the region have been stoked with continuous firings and launches.

Last week, North Korea’s frontline army fired a heavy artillery blitz into the sea for the second consecutive day in what is being seen as a tit-for-tat response to “warn” against multiday South Korea-US live-fire drills.

North Korea has said the launches are its angry response to US and South Korean drills that it views as rehearsals for a potential invasion in an unbacked claim.