What is worrisome to USA is that North Korea has developed nuclear bomb and is reportedly two years away from developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching America.
China, North Korea's sole major ally and benefactor, which nevertheless opposes its weapons programme, has called for talks leading to a peaceful resolution and the denuclearistaion of the peninsula.
Pic: ReutersPYONGYANG: Foreign journalists visiting North Korea gathered in Pyongyang for "a big and important event" on Thursday with tensions high over the possibility of a new weapons test by the isolated state and as a USA carrier group sails towards the Korean peninsula.
The suspicion is also corroborated by four weeks of "high levels of activity" at the Punggye-ri nuclear-test site, according to 38 North, a research group from the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
But North Korea's nuclear ambitions are merely a "utopia", given USA military might and United Nations Security Council sanctions.
Pyongyang's continued nuclear and missile testing program has prompted the United States to send a navy carrier group to near the Korean peninsula in a show of force aimed at deterring more tests.
The threat carries extra weight after the United States strike on a Syrian air base last week. USA will do it under United Nations protection and China will not be able to save North Korea.
With a US aircraft carrier group steaming to the area and tension rising, South Korea said it believed the United States would consult it before any pre-emptive strike against the North.
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Mbalula's predecessor, Nathi Nhleko, who appointed Ntlemeza to his position, had supported his appeal. The matter was brought to the High Court by the Helen Suzman Foundation and Freedom under Law.
The 38 North analysis group described the test site as "primed and ready". The call underscored a sense of urgency given concerns that North Korea could soon conduct a sixth nuclear test or more missile launches in defiance of United Nations sanctions, and over Trump's threat of unilateral action to solve the problem.
North Korea on Thursday told foreign journalists staying in the regime to prepare for a "big and important event".
It turned out to be the opening of a new street in the centre of the capital, attended by Kim.
A South Korean soldier watches a TV broadcasting a news report on Seismic activity produced by a suspected North Korean nuclear test, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, September 9, 2016.Kim Ju-sung/Yonhap via REUTERSUS officials say North Korea's sixth nuclear test could come as early as Saturday morning. In 2012, it tried but failed to launch a long-range rocket carrying a satellite to mark the date and tested a newly developed intermediate-range missile past year.
North Korea's official KCNA news agency said early on Thursday that Kim Jong Un had guided training of the army's special operation forces jumping from aircraft.
"Watching the fearless combatants mercilessly blow up the enemy targets, he said with pleasure that the commanding officers made correct decisions, adding those combatants carrying out their duties independently and pro-actively were reminiscent of fierce tigers crossing the mountain ranges in the southern half", KCNA reported.
United States will not allow North Korea to develop ballistic missiles which can reach America. Trump said later on Wednesday the United States is prepared to tackle the crisis surrounding North Korea without China if necessary. Trump pressed Xi to do more to curb North Korea's nuclear programme when the two leaders held their first face-to-face meeting in Florida last week. At the same time Washington has said all options, including military ones, are on the table and that a United States strike last week against Syria should serve as a warning to Pyongyang.
"There's a whole host of things that are possible, all the way up to what's essentially a trade quarantine on North Korea", one official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters in Washington on Wednesday.
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