Russia's ambassador to North Korea says it's still unclear if Pyongyang will conduct another nuclear test in the near future. 

Speaking to Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday, Ambassador Alexander Matsegora said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said at a plenary meeting of the country's ruling Workers' Party of Korea last December that there is no need to unilaterally stick with duties that do not conform to the principle of reciprocity.

He described measures taken by North Korea when it entered into denuclearization negotiations with the United States such as the suspension of ICBM testing and the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site as unilateral expressions of good faith, but noted that Kim's statement in December shouldn't be taken as a flat declaration that the country had abandoned its voluntary suspension of nuclear testing.

Matsegora pointed out that Kim had predicated his statement by saying that new nuclear tests would be meaningless since North Korea's scientific program had been sufficiently implemented.

The ambassador summed up the current situation as one in which North Korea felt no reason to maintain its suspension of nuclear testing, but at the same time felt no need to carry out those tests.

Regarding Kim's statement that North Korea would soon unveil a new strategic weapon, Matsegora implored both Pyongyang and Washington not to do anything that could aggravate the situation since we do not yet know what kind of weapon the North Korean leader was referring to.

[Photo : YONHAP News]