N. Korea may not conduct nuke test 'right away' due to rainy season: outgoing JCS chief

SEOUL, July 5 (Yonhap) -- The outgoing top South Korean military officer on Tuesday said North Korea may not find it easy to press ahead with a nuclear test "right away" due to the rainy season, though it has made preparations for it.

Gen. Won In-choul, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), was speaking to reporters during a brief farewell meeting amid speculation over the possibility and timing of the North carrying out what would be its seventh nuclear test at the mountainous Punggye-ri site.

Experts have said the current rainy season could affect a related schedule, given that pieces of equipment used for such an underground experiment are sensitive to humidity.

"As the rainy season has also come in the North, bringing heavy rainfall there, it may not be easy to carry out a nuclear test right away," Won said. "When the rainy season is over, we should look at various situations."

"(North Korea) would not carry out a nuclear test based simply on one condition. It entails various strategic goals," he added. "Preparations have been made to a certain degree, and there is still a possibility of the North carrying it out if strategic conditions are met."

Looking back on more than four decades of his life in the military, including his stint at the JCS helm since September 2020, Won said he is appreciative of the "opportunity to devote himself to the nation and people."

Won is to be succeeded by Army Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, former deputy chief of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, in a ceremony to be held later in the day.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
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