U.S. Expert Says N.Korea May Conduct More Nuclear Tests - englishnews@chosun.com

North Korea could conduct its fourth nuclear test in weeks or months, said Dr. Siegfried Hecker from Stanford University, the last U.S. expert to visit the Yongbyon uranium enrichment facility, according to Radio Free Asia on Friday. 

He made the comments during a seminar at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation held in Austria on Thursday and also discussed the North’s technological capabilities. 

The North "would likely need several more tests to be able to make one small enough for a missile and have sufficient confidence that you can put a nuclear weapon on a warhead,"  he speculated.

Hecker visited the previously secret uranium enrichment facility in Yongbyon at the invitation of North Korea in 2010. 

The North's "nuclear arms still are probably primitive" and its technology is not yet developed enough to mount nuclear weapons atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, he said.

The most serious possible threat would be delivery of a nuclear bomb by boat. "That would be the simplest delivery mechanism. However, it is very difficult to pull that off," he added.

a @ Y i �� P � they were ambushed by New People's Army (NPA) rebels," national police spokesman Generoso Cerbo told reporters.

Chief Superintendent Cerbo said the rebels fled after a 10-minute gunfight with the police. However the mayor was safely retrieved only at dawn Sunday, hours after the attack, because the ambush site was in a remote area.

The mayor's son, Senator Teofisto Guingona, said his mother was in a stable condition following the harrowing ordeal.

He said his mother's convoy was blocked by NPA rebels armed with high powered firearms as she made her way home before midnight.

"They had grenade launchers and they were able to flip over the vehicle carrying my mother," Guingona said.

"She was wounded and trapped inside the vehicle. I am relieved that she is now safe and in stable condition," he said.

He said the police and the military had launched a manhunt for the attackers, who also killed his mother's driver and an aide, and wounded one officer.

A spokeswoman for Aquino, Abigail Valte, said the government condemned the attack, and vowed justice for the Guingonas.

"There is no place for violent acts like this against any official or candidate in this coming May election," she said.

The attack came less than a month before local elections in May. NPA guerrillas often take advantage of election seasons to raise funds, by demanding protection money from candidates who want to campaign in areas under their control.

"We feel sorry about the incident, but Guingona was warned last week not to bring an armed security escort with her while on the campaign trail," NPA spokesman George Madlos said, admitting the rebels staged the attack.

Police said the wounded Guingona was the outgoing mayor of Gingoog city in Mindanao, the country's main southern island, which is plagued by decades of communist and Muslim insurgencies.

She was campaigning for her daughter, Stella Marie, to replace her as mayor when the attack happened, police said, contrary to earlier reports that she was seeking a second term.

She is married to former vice president Teofisto Guingona. Their son, also called Teofisto, is a member of the Philippine Senate. The Guingonas were not immediately available to comment on the attack.