Russia's ambassador to North Korea said the regime may decide to conduct another nuclear test if the United States continues taking provocative steps in the region.

Speaking to Russia's TASS news agency on Wednesday, Alexander Matsegora said Pyongyang is not seeking a war, adding the potential start of any military conflict on the Korean Peninsula will depend entirely on Washington.

Stressing that Western countries and the United Nations officials cannot know whether arrangements are underway for the North's seventh nuclear test, Matsegora said execution of another experiment would depend on how the military-political situation on the peninsula unfolds.

He said the North Korean leadership may well decide to conduct a new nuclear test for the sake of further strengthening its defense capabilities, if Seoul and Washington's extended nuclear deterrence or other provocative steps were to continue.

The ambassador said responsibility for such unwelcome developments will lie with Washington, as well as Seoul, though he admitted that little depended on the latter.