MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Pyongyang is preparing to carry out "provocation" taking into consideration political situation in both the United States and South Korea, he added.
"Human and vehicle activities remain active in the second shaft at the North's Punggye-ri nuclear test site even during the winter, and the third shaft is capable of further testing at any time," Lee Byoung-ho said, as quoted by the South Korean Yonhap news agency.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula intensified in September after Pyongyang claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear warhead, having previously detonated a hydrogen bomb in January.


