North Korean nuclear test to ring in the New Year?

So says Reuters this morning:

(Reuters) - North Korea could carry out a third nuclear test next year to strengthen the credentials of its young leader-in-waiting, Kim Jong-un, a research report from a South Korean Foreign Ministry institute said on Friday.

The report came a day after Pyongyang vowed a nuclear "sacred war," using its nuclear deterrent, after the South vowed to be "merciless" if attacked again and held a major military drill near the border.

The North, which carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, has yet to show it has a deliverable weapon as part of its plutonium arms program, but a third test would raise tensions further on the divided peninsula and rattle global markets.

Well, if things get shooting hot on the peninsula, here's hoping the South Koreans can take care of themselves, because I doubt Uncle Sam is an any position to help them out much. Of course, it's always possible that the Chinese will find it in their interest to squash North Korean aggression.