TOKYO • North Korea may be able to launch a warhead loaded with sarin nerve gas, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday, as satellite images suggest it might be on the verge of conducting its sixth nuclear test.

"There is a possibility that North Korea is already capable of delivering (via missile) a warhead containing sarin," Mr Abe told a parliamentary diplomacy and defence committee. A senior Japanese official also said it is likely to already possess a considerable number of such weapons.

Satellite images have shown increased activity at a nuclear test site, suggesting North Korea is ready for a test, said analysts. They said it might detonate a nuclear weapon tomorrow to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of founder Kim Il Sung, grandfather of leader Kim Jong Un.

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