Fears of new North Korea nuclear test

(Vatican Radio) A South Korean cabinet minister said there are indications that the North may be preparing another nuclear test. Separate reports from South Korea say there is heightened traffic and activity by labourers at the mountain site where North Korea detonated a device in February.

On Sunday, China's president told a regional summit that no country in Asia "should be allowed to throw a region or even the whole world into chaos," he said, "for selfish gain."

Xi Jinping stopped short of naming North Korea, but the remarks were seen by many as rebuking Pyongyang for its weeks of war-talk. China is widely seen as North Korea's only international ally.

And meanwhile, the United States has reportedly postponed a planned missile test of its own in case that should unduly provoke North Korea.

The communist nation has been accusing Washington of preparing to invade.

The U.S. says it has no such intention, but latest reports say U.S. commanders have agreed with their South Korean counterparts to make a more robust response this time, to any action that the North may take.

Listen to Alastair Wanklyn’s report: