Tunnel hints at nuclear test by North Korea

Published on Wednesday 15 December 2010 16:23

North Korea appears to be digging a tunnel at the country's nuclear test site that could be completed in March next year, possibly heralding a new nuclear test.

The amount of earth removed from the site in Punggye township, in a north-eastern region of North Korea, indicated the tunnel was about 500 metres deep, half the depth needed for a nuclear test, according to the Chosun Ilbo daily.

"North Korea is digging the ground pretty hard when it's cold enough to freeze the ground at its two major nuclear facilities," a South Korean intelligence official was quoted as saying.

"At this rate, (the Punggye tunnel] will reach (the] 1 km that is needed for a nuclear test by March to May," a separate intelligence source told the newspaper.

North Korea is also speeding up work on new construction at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, where it revealed a previously unknown uranium enrichment facility last month, the newspaper quoted intelligence sources as saying.

South Korea's foreign ministry declined to confirm the details of the report, but said: "Nothing has been confirmed that would prove the North is preparing to conduct a nuclear test."

Analysts claimNorth Korea's unveiling of a modern uranium enrichment facility and preparations for another nuclear test are likely to be ploys to pull regional powers back to the negotiating table, where Pyongyang hopes to secure aid.

This threat-for-aid cycle, effectively nuclear blackmail, is a tried and tested North Korean tactic.