US expects North Korea to carry out “nuclear test” – DW – 07/17/2023

America Assume that is expected North Korea A senior White House official said this Sunday (07.16.2023) that the communist regime will carry out another “nuclear test” after last week’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

“I’ve been concerned for some time, through various administrations, that North Korea will conduct its seventh nuclear test, and I’m concerned about that,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on the CBS talk show “Face the Nation.”

“I don’t see any immediate indication that that will happen. But I wouldn’t be surprised if North Korea went for another nuclear test in relation to its ICBM capability,” he added.

Sullivan emphasized that the Pyongyang government began testing its nuclear capability years ago and “they continue to test it.”

North Korea said publicly on Thursday that it had successfully launched the country’s new intercontinental ballistic missile. Leader Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the launch.

A tense moment between the two Koreas

The solid-propellant Hwasong-18 missile, said to have been tested only once before, flew 1,001 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 6,648 kilometers before falling into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of ​​Japan. , North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

Relations between North Korea and South Korea They are in a tense moment. Last year, Kim declared his country an “irreversible” nuclear power and called for increased production of weapons, including tactical nukes.

United Nations, America and its allies strongly condemned Wednesday’s launch, which violated several UN Security Council resolutions.

Sullivan, however, reiterated Washington’s offer to hold talks with Pyongyang, saying Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration is “ready to sit down and talk about its nuclear program without preconditions.”

mg (affp, Reuters)