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Seoul (AFP): The commander of US forces in South Korea said Tuesday he believes North Korea will test a second nuclear bomb at some time in the future. General B.B. Bell was speaking after recent reports that the communist state is preparing for a repeat test, following its first one on October 9. Bell told a press conference the North Koreans had claimed they have more than one nuclear weapon.
“They've tested one. Therefore there's no reason to believe that at some time in the future, when it serves their purposes, that they won't test another one,” he said.
“I suspect some day they will.”
Bell heads 29,000 US troops in the peninsula, supporting South Korea's 680,000-strong armed forces against any attack from the North's 1.1 million military.
“Should North Korea attack the South in any way, the combined forces command will respond and we will win quickly and we will win decisively,” he said.
“It's just that simple. Those are not hollow words, that is a fact.”
A South Korean foreign ministry official said Friday that activity had been detected at Punggye in the northeast of North Korea, near the site of the first test, but there were no signs yet of preparations for a second detonation.
The official was speaking after US television network ABC reported that North Korea appeared to have prepared for a repeat blast. The first sparked worldwide concern and United Nations sanctions.
On Sunday Chung Hyung-Keun, a South Korean opposition lawmaker who was a deputy spy agency chief in the 1990s, said unusual personnel and construction activity had recently been detected at Punggye.
Chung said North Korea was fully prepared for a repeat test but was unlikely to go ahead pending the outcome of upcoming talks.
The latest round of six-nation talks on the North's nuclear programme ended in Beijing in December without a breakthrough. The US State Department has said the talks could resume as early as this month.
Financial officials from North Korea and the United States are scheduled to meet separately, possibly this month, to try to settle a row over US financial sanctions imposed over the North's alleged counterfeiting and other illegal activities.
