Pyongyang, Apr 25 (ANI): North Korea has almost completed preparations for a third nuclear test after it failed to launch long-range missile last month, according to a report.

The communist country and its new leader Kim Jong-Un were deeply embarrassed when the much hyped Unha-3, or 'Milky Way', rocket exploded 90 seconds after blast off and crashed down into the Yellow Sea.

Now, North Korea appears to be about to carry out a third nuclear test after two in 2006 and 2009, The Daily Mail reports.

"Soon. Preparations are almost complete," a source said when asked whether North Korea was planning to conduct a nuclear test.

This is the first time a senior official has confirmed the planned test and the source has correctly predicted events in the past, revealed the 2006 test days before it happened.

According to the paper, the source did not specify whether the test would be a third test using plutonium, of which it has limited stocks, or whether North Korea would use uranium.

Meanwhile, Defence experts have said that by successfully enriching uranium, to make bombs of the type dropped on Hiroshima nearly 70 years ago, North Korea would be able to significantly build up stocks of weapons-grade nuclear material. (ANI)