North Korea would consider political ramifications rather than technical issues should it decide to conduct another nuclear test, a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said Sunday.

“Whether to conduct a nuclear test or not, that is a matter of a political decision based on its judgment of what impact the test will have on its fate,” he told reporters, declining to be named.

His remarks came as the U.N. Security Council is mulling a widened application of its sanctions against Pyongyang following its botched rocket launch on April 13, two days before the centennial of the birth of its founding father Kim Il-sung.

Amid international condemnation for the rocket launch, the North had hinted at the possibility of a third nuclear test. Local and foreign media have reported that it has prepared for another underground nuclear test following the first in 2006 and the second in 2009.

South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have already submitted to the U.N. sanctions panel their lists of additional North Korean groups or firms subject to the existing sanctions. The panel will begin looking into the lists to sort them out this week.

Despite such moves, the North has said that it would continuously launch rockets for its “sovereign right for peaceful space development.” During a recent military parade, it also showed off what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In a show of force against the North, the Seoul government unveiled two indigenous strategic missiles last week that have already been deployed for operational use.

The move was apparently intended to send a warning message to the North, and at the same time to ease public security concerns here.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)