Former national security adviser Kim Sung-han said that North Korea could carry out a localized provocation ahead of the April general elections in South Korea. 

Kim presented the projection on Tuesday at a forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. 

Kim, who served as President Yoon Suk Yeol's national security adviser from 2022 to 2023, said that while he was in office, related organizations discussed various scenarios regarding potential North Korean provocations, including missile tests and an attack on one of five South Korean islands near the maritime border in the Yellow Sea. 

He said that ahead of the April elections, North Korea may conduct a localized provocation that would not pose threat to the U.S. but would provoke a response from the South. 

Kim said that North Korea has its own preferred presidential candidate of the U.S. and may carry out provocations ahead of the U.S. presidential election to show that the Biden administration's North Korea policy has been a failure. 

Regarding the possibility of North Korea conducting a seventh nuclear test, Kim said that the North needs to make its nuclear warheads smaller and lighter, adding the North has been ready for a nuclear test since June 2022.