WASHINGTON, D.C. ? The White House said Thursday that a nuclear weapons test by North Korea would be an “extremely provocative” act that would be denounced around the globe.

The White House was reacting to an ABC News report that the communist nation may be preparing for an underground test of a nuclear bomb.

ABC on Thursday quoted an unidentified senior State Department official as saying, “It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is a real possibility.”

ABC also quoted an unidentified senior military official as saying that a U.S. intelligence agency recently had observed “suspicious vehicle movement” at a suspected North Korean test site.

The activity involved the unloading of reels of cable outside an underground facility in northeast North Korea.

According to ABC, information about the cables, which can be used to link an underground test site to remote monitoring equipment, was brought to the attention of the White House last week.