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South Koreans chosen to attend a family reunion event with North Korean relatives waits to clear the Customs Inspection and Quarantine (CIQ) checkpoint before entering the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, on the North-East coast of South Korea near Sokcho on Oct. 20.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
North Korea is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>preparing for a new nuclear test, South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The North is getting ready to conduct the test because of what it says are the confrontational policies of the United States and its allies, according to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>South Korea's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>National Intelligence Service, Yonhap reported. The spy agency said the test was not imminent. It did not elaborate on the type of test that would be held.
North Korea last conducted a nuclear test<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in 2013. It also held tests in 2006 and 2009, drawing United Nations sanctions.
Last month, the country<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said it<span style="color: Red;">*</span>restarted all its atomic bomb fuel production plants, sparking speculation it might carry out a fourth nuclear test. It remains unclear whether<span style="color: Red;">*</span>scientists there have developed a way to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>deliver<span style="color: Red;">*</span>nuclear weapons<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on long-range missiles.
USA TODAY
North-South Korea agree to family reunions
Pyongyang did not proceed with a threat to conduct a banned long-range rocket launch to send a satellite into orbit earlier this month. The previous three nuclear tests followed long-range rocket launches.
North Korean leader<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Kim Jong Un<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said he is prepared to wage<span style="color: Red;">*</span>war against the United States if necessary in a speech to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling communist Workers' Party on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Oct. 10.
Also Tuesday, about 390<span style="color: Red;">*</span>South Koreans arrived at a North Korean mountain resort<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for reunion meetings with their relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. Due to continuing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, many have not seen their families in more than 60 years.
A picture released by the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling North Korean Workers Party, on Sept. 8, 2015, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center front, and Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, second from right, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and first vice-president of the Council of State, watching an art performance by the Moranbong Band and the State Merited Chorus in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Sept. 7, 2015. Bermudez led a Cuban delegation to North Korea to mark the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between North Korea and Cuba. <span style="color: Red;">*</span> Rodong Sinmun, European Pressphoto Agency
Men and women pump their fists in the air and chant "defend!" as they carry propaganda slogans calling for reunification of their country during the "Pyongyang Mass Rally on the Day of the Struggle Against the U.S.," attended by approximately 100,000 North Koreans to mark the 65th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War at the Kim Il Sung stadium, Thursday, June 25, 2015, in Pyongyang, North Korea. The month of June in North Korea is known as the "Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism Month" and it's a time for North Koreans to swarm to war museums, mobilize for gatherings denouncing the evils of the United States and join in a general, nationwide whipping up of the anti-American sentiment.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Wong Maye-E, AP
North Koreans gather in front of a portrait of their late leader Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, right, paying respects to their late leader Kim Jong Il, to mark the third anniversary of his death, Wednesday Dec. 17 at Pyong Chon District in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea marked the end of a three-year mourning period for the late leader Kim Jong Il on Wednesday, opening the way for his son, Kim Jong Un, to put a more personal stamp on the way the country is run. <span style="color: Red;">*</span> Kim Kwang Hyon, AP
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Dressed in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>suits, formal dresses and traditional hanbok, the South Koreans<span style="color: Red;">*</span>brought gifts including long johns, medicine and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>calligraphy<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for<span style="color: Red;">*</span>about 140 relatives in the North at the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Diamond Mountain resort, once a major tourist attraction, the Associated Press reported.
South Korean<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Oh Cheol-ran,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>77,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said of her brother <span style="color: Red;">*</span>in the North. “I’m so happy to see him even now. I haven’t been able to sleep well,” according to the news agency.
The reunions are the first<span style="color: Red;">*</span>since February 2014 and the second in the past five years. Initiated after a historic North-South summit in 2000, they<span style="color: Red;">*</span>were originally<span style="color: Red;">*</span>supposed to be annual events, but have often been cancelled due to poor North-South relations.
Last week, President Obama sad the recently-concluded Iran nuclear deal could be a model for addressing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, but only if North Korea first shows it’s serious about giving up its nuclear program.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Obama told South Korean President<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Park Geun-hye<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that the U.S. commitment to her nation's security<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"will never waver" in the face of threats by Pyongyang.
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