North Korea spent an estimated US$5 million on its fifth nuclear test on Friday, the National Intelligence Service here said Sunday.

The estimate was leaked by a lawmaker on the National Assembly's intelligence Committee, which was briefed by the NIS right after the test.

The lawmaker added, "Given intensity of the test, that was a very small amount of money."

Most of the money was apparently spent on acquiring the raw materials and on manufacturing the device.

The NIS said there are two or three more tunnels at the Punggye-ri test site that can be used at any time to conduct more nuclear tests, according to another lawmaker.

A government source here explained that North Korea spent around W1 trillion digging several tunnels in Punggye-ri, so it can now conduct more nuclear tests quite cheaply (US$1=W1,102).

