The South Korean military has launched a crisis management task force to step up monitoring on North Korea’s nuclear site as the communist state is preparing for a third nuclear test, the defense ministry said Tuesday.

“South Korea and the United States have stepped up monitoring to cope with a nuclear test as well as other provocations,”

ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said during a briefing. “The Joint Chiefs of Staff have been operating a small-sized crisis management task force.”

The defense ministry is in close consultation with the state weather agency, the Korea Meteorological Administration, the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources and the Institute of Nuclear Safety to detect early signs of any special movement near the nuclear site in Pungye-ri, the host of the 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests, Kim said.

The move comes as the Kim Jong-un regime has repeatedly threatened another nuclear test after the U.N. Security Council tightened restrictions against Pyongyang for the Dec. 12 rocket launch.

Seoul officials believe the North has made enough preparations to conduct a third nuclear test, though the decision to pull the trigger depends on political circumstance.

Senior military officials of the two allies and Japan will discuss ways to share information on North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and measures for a third test in an annual defense meeting slated for Wednesday in Tokyo, Kim added. (Yonhap News)