PM says N. Korea is ready to conduct nuclear test

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo has said North Korea is ready to conduct a nuclear bomb test, but South Korea and its allies have always been prepared for the North's major provocation.

"We gather that they are ready," Han told Britain's Sky News in an interview, "although we do not know exactly when" a nuclear test would happen.

North Korea has launched a flurry of short- to long-range missile tests so far this year and has widely been expected to carry out what would be its seventh nuclear test.

Han said South Korea and its allies have been on alert over the possibility of North Korea's nuclear test.

"We always have preparations for that kind of very undesirable action," Han was quoted as saying in the interview. "We cannot say at this moment what kind of response will be made."

Asked whether a hard-line policy by the conservative government of President Yoon Suk-yeol might have affected North Korea's provocations, Han replied, "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."

"We will secure our peace on our terms, not on terms dictated by North Korea," Han said.

Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appeared alongside his young daughter after overseeing the test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

"The launching of an intercontinental missile will be, without any doubt, a big thing for North Korea," Han said. "Possibly the appearance of his daughter, for him, he would like to deliver some message." (Yonhap)