UNITED NATIONS ( Associated Press) – UN experts report that North Korea is testing “nuclear trigger devices” and that preparations for another nuclear test in June were in the final stages, citing information from unidentified countries.
In new excerpts from their latest report obtained by the Associated Press, experts said they were “unable to identify the locations or dates of the tests” of nuclear triggers reported by a UN member state.
In excerpts obtained Thursday, experts said North Korea is preparing the ground for additional nuclear tests with new preparations at its Northeast test site and continuing to develop its capability to produce materials critical for nuclear weapons. .
The panel said: “In the first days of June, the two member states determined that preparations for a nuclear test were in their final stages.”
Turning to other matters, the panel noted that North Korea conducted two major hacks this year that resulted in the theft of “hundreds of millions of dollars” of crypto assets. He said Pyongyang imports oil illegally in violation of UN sanctions and uses the same companies, networks and ships.
South Korean and US intelligence officials have said they have detected North Korean efforts to prepare its Punggye-ri test site for another nuclear test. It will be the seventh in the country since 2006 and the first since September 2017, when it said it had detonated a thermonuclear bomb to contain its ballistic missiles.
The expert panel’s report to the UN Security Council gives some details of what North Korea is doing at the site. Experts said they saw North Koreans re-excavating the entrance to Tunnel 3 in Pungye-ri in March “and rebuilding ancillary buildings demolished in May 2018.”
