North Korea 'preparing long-range missile launch'

By Jack Kim in Seoul

(News.com) -NORTH Korea is assembling a missile that could hit US soil and may test-launch it as early as this month, a newspaper reported, as a US envoy urged Pyongyang to cease provocations and return to disarmament talks.

The hermit state's nuclear test last week, putting it closer to having a working atomic weapon, has already prompted the US and South Korean forces to raise their military alert for the divided peninsula.

North Korea, which began ratcheting up regional tensions when it fired a long-ranged rocket over Japan in April, also test-fired a barrage of short-range missiles last week and threatened to attack the South.

"The ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) is covered up so it's tough to be absolutely clear but it looks similar to the Taepodong-2 fired in April but longer," the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper quoted a South Korean government source as saying.

The April launch triggered tightened UN Security Council sanctions that Pyongyang called unacceptable, threatening to launch an ICBM unless the world body apologised.

The newspaper said the missile has been moved to a hangar for assembly at the North's newly built west coast Tongchang-ri missile range for a launch that could come as early as mid-June. The launch area is about 90 km west of Yongbyon, the North's main nuclear complex. However, weapons experts say the impoverished state does not yet have the technology to turn its nuclear material into a warhead to put onto a missile.

It also looks ready to test launch three to four mid-range missiles with ranges that can hit all of South Korea and most of Japan, South Korean lawmakers said on Tuesday after a defence briefing.

"Now is the time for North Korea, rather than continuing to take more dangerous and provocative actions, to recognise that the better course is to re-engage and to get back on the path of negotiations towards denuclearisation," US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said after meeting foreign ministry officials in Seoul.

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N Korean missile arrives for launch

(Press Ass) -North Korea has moved its most advanced long-range missile to a new launch site and has banned ships from the waters off its west coast until the end of July, it is reported.

The missile, which arrived at the Dongchang-ni launch site on the north-west coast, is believed to be a version of the Taepodong-2 rocket that the North fired on April 5.

On that occasion it claimed it had been a satellite launch.

The North could fire the missile as early as June 16 when South Korean president Lee Myung-bak and US president Barack Obama hold a summit in Washington, the South Korean Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said.

The North has also designated a large area off its west coast as a "no-sail" zone to the end of next month, an indication Pyongyang could stage armed provocations around the disputed sea border.

Seoul's defence ministry said it did not comment on intelligence matters. But late last week South Korean officials said US satellites had detected apparent preparations to transport a missile for a test launch.

A new missile launch would significantly increase the tensions running high after the North's April rocket launch and its second-ever nuclear test last week. World powers have been discussing at the United Nations how to punish Pyongyang for the atomic blast.

The North's Taepodong-2 rocket flew about 2,000 miles on April 5. The missile being readied for a new launch is believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM with a range of up to 4,000 miles. That would put Alaska within striking range.

North Korea has been building the new launch site at Dongchang-ni for years. Last year, Seoul's defence minister Lee Sang-hee told parliament that its construction was about 80% complete.

The North's missile and nuclear programmes have been considered a top security concern for the region, though the regime is not yet believed to have mastered the technology to make a nuclear warhead small enough to mount on a missile.

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