North Korea ready for seventh nuclear test 'at any time'

The isolated regime of Kim Jong Un has a tunnel ready to test another nuclear weapon “at any time,” according to spies in its neighbor to the south.

North Korea is planning on carrying out an additional nuclear test, its seventh, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers on Thursday, according to news agency Yonhap.

“The North will carry out additional nuclear tests and continue to push for the development of miniaturized, diversified nuclear warheads,” the service said, adding that there was “active movement” around a Pyongyang research facility.

Intelligence officials also added that a tunnel at a test site was ready to be used “at any time.”

North Korea has not tested a nuke since early September, which it did during a war of words between Kim and President Trump, who promised “fire and fury” against a leader he dubbed “Rocket Man.”

But the rhetoric seems to have done little to slow the march towards the brink.

In fact, a new nuclear test in the coming months would mark the fourth entry in less than two years on a list of detonations that sent shockwaves of panic through the international community.

North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon under Kim?s father Kim Jong Il in 2006, adding others in 2009 and 2013 before the current flurry.

Those tests have accompanied assessments that the country has succeeded in “miniaturizing” a nuclear warhead to go onto one of its missiles.

Missile tests by the country, including recent efforts that sent projectiles over Japan, are much more frequent, with North Korea now believed to nearing a weapon capable of hitting the U.S.