SEOUL, North Korea may carry out a new nuclear test around the time of the U.S. presidential vote in November next year to possibly intervene in the election, an expert at a South Korean research institute said Wednesday.
Park Yong-han, a senior researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, made the assessment as Seoul officials have said in recent months the North remains prepared to carry out its seventh nuclear test.
“There is a possibility that North Korea may stage provocations to intervene in the (South Korean) parliamentary elections next April and the U.S. presidential election in November,” he said. “It may conduct another nuclear test by considering the pros and cons of former President Donald Trump’s election.”
The isolated regime last conducted a nuclear test in September 2017. Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang remain stalled since the 2019 Hanoi summit between then President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended without a deal.
Source: Yonhap News Agency