South Korea’s top diplomat says North Korea has completed preparations for a new nuclear test that could come within days. It would be the North's seventh such test.
After talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin said the North would pay a price if it goes ahead, as feared, with what would be its seventh nuclear test in the coming days.
“If North Korea ventures into another nuclear test, I think it will only strengthen our deterrence and also international sanctions,” Park said. “North Korea should change its mind and make the right decision.”Apart from sanctions, Park did not say what that price the North would pay or outline how the deterrence policy would change, but Blinken said the United States and treaty allies South Korea and Japan could adjust their military postures in response.
Both Park and Blinken men stressed the door to negotiations without any preconditions remains open for North Korea. But Blinken, repeating comments from numerous U.S. officials in recent days, lamented that North Korea continues to ignore overtures for dialogue. The North’s artillery tests draw less outside attention than its missile launches, of which it has conducted more so far this year than in any previous year. But its forward-deployed long-range artillery guns are a serious security threat to South Korea’s populous metropolitan region, which is only 40-50 kilometers from the border with North Korea.
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