UN cautions that North Korea “paves the way” for additional nuclear tests after Kim Jong-Un threat

• North Korea prepared for a nuclear test during the first half of this year.
• UN Security Council North Korea sanctions committee that “work at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site 
• The DPRK, or Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as North Korea is officially known, “continued to strengthen its capability for the manufacturing of fissile material

An passage from a private United Nations document claims that North Korea prepared for a nuclear test during the first half of this year.

Independent sanctions monitors informed the UN Security Council North Korea sanctions committee that “work at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site prepares the path for additional nuclear tests for the development of nuclear weapons.”

The DPRK, or Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as North Korea is officially known, “continued to strengthen its capability for the manufacturing of fissile material at the Yongbyon plant,” the monitors reported.

With its first nuclear reactors in operation, Yongbyon is North Korea’s main nuclear complex.

Requests for comment on the report were not immediately answered by the North Korean UN mission in New York.

The United States has long warned that North Korea is prepared to conduct a seventh nuclear test and has stated that, should this happen, it will push for stronger UN sanctions against Pyongyang.

The UN observers added that investigations had revealed Pyongyang was accountable for at least one significant breach that resulted in the theft of crypto assets valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. North Korea has been charged by the monitors with using cyberattacks to finance its nuclear and missile programmes.

In their report, the monitors said that “other cyber activity focusing on information theft and other conventional means of gaining information and materials of value to DPRK’s prohibited programmes, particularly WMD (weapons of mass destruction), continued.”