No indication of imminent North Korean n-test, says South

SEOUL - South Korean officials said Thursday that they detected no clear indication that another nuclear test by Stalinist North Korea was imminent after movement was reported around its test site.

“As of the moment, we have not noted any moves that would lead us to believe North Korea was getting ready to test a nuclear device,” South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying.

Such a test would be North Korea’s third after one in October 2006 and another in May 2009.

Since last year’s test, consistent movement around the test site in Punggye-ri in the north of the country has been detected, another official was quoted as saying. However, these moves were “difficult to regard” as signs that a test was imminent, he said.

“South Korea and the United States are keeping a close watch on Punggye-ri and other nuclear sites in North Korea,” the unnamed official said.

The Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean paper, reported Thursday that a government source had said a US satellite had detected indications of a possible nuclear test by North Korea.