SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military intelligence agency told lawmakers Wednesday that North Korea has likely completed preparations for its seventh nuclear test and appears to be preparing to test a capable long-range missile to reach the United States.

In a closed-door hearing, the agency also said some advanced units of North Korean troops sent to Russia may have arrived at the battle fronts as forces prepare to move toward the Kursk region, where Russia has struggled to repel a Ukrainian incursionaccording to two lawmakers present at the meeting.

Earlier this month, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol told the Associated Press earlier this month that he expects North Korea to stage major provocations like nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests around the U.S. election to increase pressure on Washington and his allies.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has also flaunted his military nuclear program in recent months, testing various missile systems and revealing a secret facility to produce weapons-grade uranium in September.

The agency believes North Korea has completed preparations to conduct a nuclear test at its testing ground in the northeastern city of Punggye-ri, with the detonation likely to be carried out in Tunnel No. 3, said Lee Seong-kweun, one of the officials. legislators who attended the hearing. North Korea carried out its sixth and final nuclear test in 2017.

The agency also said it was detecting signs, including the placement of launchers, that the North was preparing to test launch an ICBM designed to reach the U.S. mainland, Lee and Park Sun-won said. another legislator. The agency estimates that the ICBM test could take place in November.

“We cannot specify the exact location, but the carrier-erector launcher was deployed in a certain area where it could be expected that an ICBM test to verify atmospheric reentry technology could be carried out,” Lee added. .

All of North Korea’s ICBM tests since 2017 have been conducted at a high angle to avoid neighbors’ territory. Experts said the North could eventually seek to flight test its weapons at an angle closer to a normal ballistic trajectory, to test whether the warhead would survive the harsh conditions of atmospheric re-entry.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula The situation has worsened since 2022 after Kim used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a diversion to accelerate the growth of his nuclear weapons and missile program.