TOKYO -- The recent assertion by Japan's top diplomat that North Korea is preparing for a new nuclear weapons test has drawn a rebuttal from a U.S.-based monitoring website maintaining that such activity is not confirmed by satellite imagery.
Pyongyang appears to be "working hard to get ready for the next nuclear test," Foreign Minister Taro Kono said at a Saturday lecture in the western Japanese city of Kochi. He cited the removal of soil from a tunnel at the site.
