Seoul detects signs of further DPRK missile launch

World
Europe

South Korea has detected signs that the DPRK is preparing another missile launch, the defense ministry said on Monday, adding that it could involve an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The ministry said signs that Pyongyang was "preparing for another ballistic missile launch have consistently been detected since Sunday's test", referring to Pyongyang's sixth nuclear test.

Seoul did not give any further details or indicate when the next launch might take place.

Sunday's blast had a strength of 50 kilotons, defense ministry officials said at a parliamentary briefing.

Pyongyang on Sunday triggered global concern with its most powerful test to date after it claimed it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb that could be mounted on a long-range missile, which analysts say is a major advancement in the country’s nuclear program.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un oversees a missile test on August 29, 2017. /AFP Photo

"The explosive power of the North's nuclear test is estimated to be 50 kilotons," a senior ministry official told lawmakers at an emergency parliamentary briefing.

That would make it five times the size of the DPRK’s previous test in September last year, and more than three times bigger than the device the US exploded over Hiroshima in 1945.

The official did not confirm whether the tested device was a hydrogen bomb but said "a variety of nuclear material" appeared to have been used.

The DPRK, which carried out two ICBM launches in July that reportedly brought much of the US mainland into range, has made rapid progress with its weapons program in defiance of seven rounds of UN sanctions.

952km

Source(s): AFP