NEW satellite imagery appears to show preparations under way at a North Korean nuclear test site.

Early this month South Korean intelligence reported the digging of a new tunnel at the Punggye-ri site, which it took as a sign that North Korea was covertly preparing for a third nuclear test, following previous ones in 2006 and 2009.

The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies provided an analysis of a sequence of photos from a private satellite operator taken between March 8 and April 18.