Free Republic

TOKYO - Japan is ready for North Korea to carry out its threatened nuclear test as soon as this weekend, officials said yesterday. Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi, on a visit to Washington, said Pyongyang's resolve to test its first atom bomb should not be underestimated. "We discussed the possibility that the test would occur this weekend," Mr Yachi said after talks with US Deputy National Security Adviser Jack Crouch. North Korea issued a statement on Tuesday saying it would test a nuclear bomb, dramatically raising the stakes in its standoff with the US on its quest for atomic weapons....

The United States has detected signs that North Korea may be planning to conduct a nuclear test in Kiljoo in North Hamkyong Province, a Seoul daily reported Tuesday. "The U.S. reconnaissance satellite has taken pictures of trucks moving a lot and movements of cranes and other equipment in a place in Kiljoo in North Hamkyong Province," a South Korean government source was quoted by Chosun Ilbo as saying. U.S. intelligence authorities have conveyed to their South Korean counterparts related satellite pictures and their assessment that they believe these pictures indicate that North Korea is likely to conduct a nuclear...

There is new evidence that North Korea may be preparing to for an underground test of nuclear bomb, U.S. officials tell ABC News. "It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is real possibility," says a senior State Department official. A senior military official tells ABC News that a U.S. intelligence agency has recently observed "suspicious vehicle movement" at a suspected North Korean test site. The activity includes the unloading of large reels of cable outside an underground facility called Pungyee-yok in northeast North Korea. Cables can be used in nuclear testing to connect an underground test...