South Korea backtracks on claims North was preparing nuclear test

Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told a parliamentary committee that “there is such an indication” of nuclear test preparations at Pyongyang’s site in the country’s north-east.

But a few hours later he insisted he had made a mistake. His comments were recorded on video, but he said he could not remember making them and did not mean to say them. A Unification Ministry official said that Mr Ryoo had intended to say that North Korea has long been ready to conduct a nuclear test.

His earlier comment prompted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to call on North Korea not to carry out a new test, saying it would be a “provocative” act.

Either a nuclear test or a missile test would escalate tensions that have been rising for weeks on the Korean Peninsula, and could invite a new round of UN Security Council sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear and rocket activity.

Meanwhile, North Korea said it would recall 51,000 of its workers and suspend operations at a factory complex which is the last major symbol of co-operation with its southern rival.

The Kaesong complex combines cheap North Korean labour and South Korean know-how and technology.

The Kaesong complex just north of the Demilitarized Zone is the biggest employer in North Korea’s third-largest city.

Shutting it down, even temporarily, would show that the destitute country is willing to hurt its own economy to display its anger with South Korea and the United States.