The New York Times:
SEOUL, South Korea — The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, said his country would soon conduct another nuclear test and also flight-test ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the country’s state-run news media reported Tuesday.
If Mr. Kim follows through with those threats, that would mean North Korea was readying its fifth nuclear test and was preparing to conduct more missile launchings in defiance of the sanctions resolution the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted this month against the country.
Mr. Kim declared that “a nuclear warhead explosion test and a test-fire of several kinds of ballistic rockets able to carry nuclear warheads will be conducted in a short time to further enhance the reliance of nuclear attack capability,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday.
Mr. Kim made the comments while observing officials conducting a simulation test of re-entry technology, the news agency said. The technology is needed for a warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile to survive heat and turbulence while plunging through the atmosphere toward its target.
Although North Korea has repeatedly threatened to launch nuclear strikes against the United States, officials and analysts have questioned how close the country has come to acquiring such technology, as well as the ability to guide a long-range missile.
Although Mr. Kim said that his country has the re-entry technology, it has never flight-tested a long-range missile.
Fears have grown, however, that the country was mastering technologies to build such a missile. It launched a long-range rocket to put a satellite into orbit on Feb. 7. On Jan. 6, it conducted its fourth nuclear test.
