On November 5, South Korea's intelligence agency said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may order a nuclear test at the Punggye-ri facility in the near future. This assessment was cited by the Korean intelligence agency, showing that Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities remained at readiness level.
North Korea is the only country in the world to have conducted nuclear explosions for decades. Previously, US President Donald Trump accused Russia and China of secretly testing underground nuclear weapons but did not disclose them.
Mr. Trump said that some other countries such as North Korea or Pakistan are also experimenting similarly and argued that the US needs action to ensure balance, emphasizing "we have to experiment to see how they work".
China's Foreign Ministry has denied Trump's allegations, saying the country is fulfilling its commitment to suspending nuclear weapons testing and maintaining a defense strategy. Spokesperson Mao Ning stressed that China expects the US to take responsible steps to protect the mechanism of decentralization and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Russia did not respond directly to Mr. Trump's allegations, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov affirmed that Russia would not conduct nuclear testing and would only do so if the US acted first.
