It is a red line that Pyongyang is about to cross: a nuclear test by North Korea, which seems likely in the coming weeks, would be a "game changer" in the region and would receive a "response" from the United States, said Friday, September 30 in Honolulu several senior officials of the US command for Asia-Pacific.

North Korea has carried out five ballistic missile tests in one week, and is likely preparing to conduct a nuclear test after the next Chinese Communist Party congress, which begins on October 16, an official from the Indo-Chinese command told some reporters. Pacific (IndoPacom).

"I think the possibility of a test is more likely one or two weeks after the congress," said the official, who requested anonymity.

His estimate agrees with that of the South Korean intelligence services, for which this nuclear test, which would be the first since 2017, could take place between October 16 and the midterm elections in the United States on November 7.

While emphasizing that no link has been established between Pyongyang's recent ballistic tests and the possibility of a nuclear test, the head of the US fleet in the region, Admiral Sam Paparo, acknowledged that it would be " a matter of very deep concern".

"It would be very worrying, there would be a response," he added.

"This response would be done in close consultation with our South Korean ally and would be consistent with our integrated deterrence doctrine: it would incorporate all instruments of US power," diplomatic, military and economic, he added.

"A source of concern"

For the chief of the air force in the region, General Ken Wilsbach, the idea that North Korea has a nuclear weapon is all the more worrying since, unlike other nuclear powers, the Pyongyang regime does not do not consider this kind of weaponry as a deterrent never to be used.

"They threatened to use these weapons against their neighbors and even the United States. And that's unusual," he noted.

"The other countries that have these weapons don't talk like that and that should worry everyone."

A North Korean nuclear test would "undoubtedly be a game-changer" in the region, General Wilsbach added.

"It would be a source of concern for many countries. I think it would even worry China and Russia."

>> To read on France24.com: the Yongbyon site, jewel of the North Korean nuclear program

Under international sanctions for its weapons programs, North Korea adopted a new doctrine in early September proclaiming that it would never give up nuclear weapons. 

The North Korean regime has tested atomic bombs six times since 2006. The latest and most powerful nuclear test came in 2017, with an estimated yield of 250 kilotons.

Pyongyang mentioned a hydrogen bomb.

Satellite images have shown signs of activity in a tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in recent months. 

Pyongyang had assured to have demolished this site in 2018 before a historic summit between Kim Jong Un and the American president of the time Donald Trump, beginning of a brief phase of dialogue.

Faced with the warlike rhetoric of Pyongyang, the United States and South Korea resumed their joint exercises, suspended since 2018 due to Covid-19 and a diplomatic warming, now over, between Seoul and Pyongyang.

US Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Seoul this week and toured the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas, on a trip aimed at underscoring Washington's "unwavering" commitment to defending South Korea. South versus North.

Washington is Seoul's main security ally, with about 28,500 of its troops stationed in South Korea.

With AFP

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