A legislator of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) says rumors are spreading in Washington that North Korea may conduct a nuclear test in October before the U.S. presidential elections.

Representative Park Jin, who is in Washington, said Friday that a senior U.S. government official had mentioned such a possibility during a meeting with high-level media officials. Park said Washington had reportedly expressed its concern over such reports to North Korean diplomats based in the United States.

Park is in New York to attend the meeting of the International Democrat Union and the U.S. Republican Party convention.