The US official says he will react vigorously if North Korea conducts a nuclear test

From Joori Roh and Soo-hyang Choi

SEOUL (Reuters) – US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Tuesday that there will be a strong and clear response from the United States, South Korea and the world if North Korea conducts a nuclear test.

“Any nuclear test would be in complete violation of UN Security Council resolutions (and) there would be a quick and strong response to such a test … I believe that not only the RC, the US and Japan, but the whole world a strong and clear way, “she told a news conference after talks with South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun-dong in Seoul. ROK is the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea.

“We are prepared and … we will continue our tripartite discussion (with South Korea and Japan) tomorrow,” Sherman added.

Her remarks came after South Korean and US forces fired eight surface-to-surface missiles early Monday off the east coast of South Korea in response to a volley of short-range ballistic missiles fired from North Korea on Sunday.

U.S. and South Korean government officials and North Korean experts have been saying for weeks that there are signs of new construction at Punggye-ri, North Korea’s only known nuclear test site, and that Pyongyang may soon be testing a bomb. The North has not tested a nuclear bomb since 2017.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Monday that North Korea’s construction work to expand key facilities at its main nuclear facility in Yongbyon is progressing.

The secluded North Korea has suffered its first outbreak of COVID-19 in the past month, with a total of 4,198,890 people with fever symptoms as of Monday. North Korea has not confirmed the total number of people tested positive for coronavirus, with experts saying the figures may be understated.

Pyongyang has so far refused any assistance offered by Washington and Seoul, although the World Health Organization says the COVID-19 situation there is deteriorating.

The RC and the United States and others have offered a humanitarian response that has not yet been adopted, but we hope that (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un will focus on helping his people meet this COVID-19 challenge. “We all stand up and will return to the negotiating table instead of taking provocative and dangerous and destabilizing actions,” Sherman said.

(Report by Soo-hyang Choi and Joori Roh; edited by Kim Coghill and Lincoln Feast.)