BEIJING, Oct 7: Three senior US officials with access to intelligence said on Saturday that speculation about a possible test by North Korea centred on Sunday, the anniversary of when President Kim Jong-il became head of the national defence commission in 1997.
They said Pyongyang, which has in the past timed bold actions and announcements to coincide with significant dates, could also choose Monday, North Korea Workers’ Party Day as well as the US holiday for explorer Christopher Columbus.
Missile tests by North Korea in July were widely anticipated because satellite pictures showed them being prepared for launch.
A Chinese source said North Korea is ‘more or less ready’ to conduct a nuclear test deep inside an abandoned coal mine but might hold off it can win concessions from the United States.
The source said a device would be detonated about 2,000 metres inside a mine near the border with China in the north of the country.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had issued instructions that the test should ‘not excessively rock’ Mount Paektu, a nearby peak many Koreans consider sacred.
“They are more or less ready,” the source said after speaking to North Korean officials. He did not give a timetable.
Hankook Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, said the most likely site was the administrative district of Gilju, in North Hamkyung province.
This was the area mentioned in a report by US television network ABC news in August that an American intelligence agency had observed suspicious vehicle movements as a suspected nuclear test site.
Hankook Ilbo said a test would not have to take place in Gilju since there are so many disused mine shafts, and named the districts of Hagab and Shijung in the province of Jagang, which shares a border with China, as potential sites.
“Finding the test site beforehand would be akin to finding a needle in the Han River,” it said.
CONCESSIONS: The Chinese source said Pyongyang “may not necessarily test”, and would hold off if Beijing and other Asian powers could convince the United States to lift sanctions and open dialogue.
New Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is due to visit China on Sunday and South Korea the next day for summits to repair ties frayed by feuds over their wartime past. But North Korea’s nuclear threat will grab a top spot on the agenda.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun visits China, North Korea’s closest ally and major donor, on Friday.
“The bilaterals will be useless unless they can talk the United States into changing its attitude and respecting North Korea’s sovereignty,” the Chinese source said. —Reuters