North Korea is preparing for its fifth nuclear test, the South’s intelligence services have said, as cited by Yonhap agency. The news come hours after Pyongyang claimed it had successfully put an earth observation satellite into orbit.
Earlier the agency reported that the South Korean military found suspected fragments of the North’s rocket. The metal object believed to be a part of the rocket’s fairing (the nose cone which houses the payload) was discovered southeast of South Korea’s Jeju Island by a navy ship, an official from the country’s Defense Ministry said.
Yonhap cited a Seoul lawmaker, who said the North has the technology for an intercontinental ballistic missile. “The satellite is presumed to weigh 200 kilograms, two times heavier than the satellite launched in 2012,” the lawmaker said, after being briefed in a closed-door session by the National Intelligence Service. A proper satellite usually weighs at least 800 to 1,500 kilograms, the agency wrote. FULL REPORT
