SKorean official says he misspoke about nuke test
By HYUNG-JIN KIMBy HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press?
?South Korean army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Monday, April 8, 2013. South Korea?s top security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats? safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North?s clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Monday, April 8, 2013. South Korea?s top security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats? safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North?s clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Koreans wait for a chance to enter the North Korean city of Kaesong at the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 8, 2013. North Korea raised tensions Wednesday when it barred South Koreans and supply trucks from entering the Kaesong industrial complex, where South Korean companies have employed thousands of North Korean workers for the past decade. The writing reads "Departure and Kaesong." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A man walks at the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 8, 2013. A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
South Koreans read newspapers reporting on North Korea's threat of war on a street in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 8, 2013. South Korea?s top security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats? safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North?s clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
An unidentified elementary school teacher, center, orders her students to leave as they watch South Korean housewives stage a press conference denouncing the annual joint military exercise known as Foal Eagle, between South Korea and the United States, near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 8, 2013. South Korea?s top security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats? safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North?s clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul. The writing on the banner reads " Peace."(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? A top South Korean official says he misspoke when he told lawmakers there is an "indication" that North Korea is preparing for a nuclear test. But that doesn't change what Seoul has been saying for months: that Pyongyang has already prepared a tunnel for a nuclear blast and can use it whenever it wants.
When a lawmaker asked earlier Monday whether there was an indication of increased personnel and vehicles at the North's nuclear test site, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said "there is such an indication." He said he couldn't say more because it involved confidential intelligence.
The comments were recorded on video, but Ryoo later told lawmakers he couldn't remember making them and didn't mean to say them. He said he was "startled" by reports carrying his earlier comments.
Associated Press
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