U.S. intelligence has assessed that North Korea could be preparing to carry out its first weapons test since President Joe Biden took office in January, CNN said Tuesday, citing several officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

The officials are on alert as the United States and South Korea conduct scaled-down military exercises and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are in Asia for meetings with their Japanese and South Korean counterparts, CNN said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party on Feb. 8, 2021. (KCNA/Kyodo)

The head of U.S. Northern Command, which is in charge of defending the continental United States, also warned of the "alarming success" in North Korea's quest to demonstrate its capability to threaten the American homeland with nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Noting that Pyongyang has indicated it is no longer bound by the unilateral nuclear and ICBM testing moratorium announced in 2018, Gen. Glen Vanherck said in written testimony for a Senate committee that North Korea "may begin flight testing an improved ICBM design in the near future."

North Korea has not tested ICBMs or nuclear devices since 2017, but the secretive country is believed to have continued honing its military capabilities while nuclear negotiations with the administration of Biden's predecessor Donald Trump were in a stalemate.

The Biden administration recently admitted that it has been reaching out to the North Korean government since mid-February in a bid to reduce what it calls "the risks of escalation," but so far it has received no response.

The CNN report came after Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's younger sister and close aide, lambasted the military exercises and criticized the new U.S. administration for wanting to spread the "smell of gunpowder from across the ocean."

In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, she urged Washington not to "create work that would prevent it from sleeping in a proper manner" for the next four years.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the White House in Washington on March 12, 2021. (UPI/Kyodo)

Blinken did not give a clear answer in Tokyo when he was asked about the statement during a joint press conference attended by Austin and their Japanese counterparts.

"I'm familiar with the comments you referenced, but the comments I'm actually most interested in today are those of our allies and partners," he said.

"That's why we've come to this region. That's why we've come to Japan, precisely to listen to our allies and to discuss how collectively we might seek to address the threat from North Korea," Blinken added.

On the CNN report, State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter told a press briefing via phone that the department does not comment on intelligence.

According to CNN, the possibility of a test in the coming days has led Biden administration officials across several agencies to discuss how they would respond publicly if one happens.

Based on imagery and other intelligence, a missile or rocket engine test could be likely, CNN said. The last known North Korean weapons test was conducted in March 2020.


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