SEOUL, March 24. /TASS/. North Korea is fully ready to carry out a new nuclear test, a spokesman for South Korea’s national defense ministry said Friday.
"North Korea completed preparations for an underground nuclear explosion. It may be carried out within hours after receiving an order from (the country’s leader) Kim Jong Un," the spokesman told reporters.
He added that South Korean military and its US allies "closely follow the situation" at the presumed site of the nuclear test.
North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests to date - in 2006, 2009, 2013 and two in 2016.