North Korea appears to be preparing to test-launch its longest range ballistic missile, media reports said today, just days after the reclusive state warned that the Korean peninsula was on the brink of war
North Korea appears to be preparing to test-launch its longest range ballistic missile, media reports said today, stoking tensions just days after the reclusive state warned that the Korean peninsula was on the brink of war.
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North Korea, which typically carries out missile tests in times of political friction, last week said it was scrapping all agreements with South Korea in a move analysts said was aimed at pressuring Seoul and grabbing the attention of new US President Barack Obama.
The North, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, is seen as one of the greatest threats to regional security. But experts say they do not believe Pyongyang has developed the technology to miniaturise an atomic weapon, so it can be mounted on a missile as a warhead.
Media agencies in South Korea and Japan have cited unnamed government sources as saying the North had been moving equipment used in the launch of its Taepodong-2 missile, which the test-fired in July 2006 only to see it fizzle and destruct a few seconds after leaving the launch pad.
A train carrying a large object had left a factory and was headed to the site of a newly constructed launch pad on the North's west coast, said an unnamed South Korean government source.
"The object is suspected as being a Taepodong-2," he said.
The Taepodong-2 is designed to eventually have a range long enough to hit US. Much of the preparation needed to get it ready can be seen by spy satellites.
North Korea already has more than 800 ballistic missiles that can hit all of South Korea and most of Japan.
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