N. Korea moving to fire long-range missile: Seoul officials

By Sam Kim

SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is moving to test-launch a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, South Korean officials said Tuesday, amid rising tension on the divided peninsula.

An intelligence source said a train carrying a long cylinder-shaped object has
recently been spotted by U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies, adding it
is believed to be a Taepodong-2 missile.
Taepodong-2 missiles can technically reach Alaska and western parts of the U.S.
and carry a payload of up to 500 kilograms, according to defense experts.
The preparation to launch the inter-continental ballistic missile is likely to be
completed in a month or two, the source said, confirming a report from Japanese
media that the launch is imminent.
"The intelligence report by Japan appears grounded on facts," an official at the
Ministry of National Defense said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A spy agency official said he is unsure whether the North would actually carry
through with the launch, while defense ministry officials said senior commanders
have begun a meeting to discuss their response.
North Korea said last week it was scrapping all inter-Korean peace accords signed
to ease tension along the heavily armed border.
Relations between the two countries -- which fought the truce-ended 1950-53
Korean War -- have soured significantly over the past year since South Korean
President Lee Myung-bak took office with a pledge to tie reconciliation to the
North Korean nuclear issue.
"This new missile is likely to be an upgraded one," Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea
professor at Dongguk University in Seoul, said. "We could even call it a
Taepodong-3 missile."
North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-2 missile during an exercise in 2006 -- the
same year it tested a nuclear device -- but the missile failed after 40 seconds
of flight, according to outside intelligence assessment.
Koh said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is seeking a more swift response from
the newly inaugurated U.S. administration, its foremost partner in
denuclearization-for-aid talks.
"Pyongyang seems jittery," Ryoo Kihl-jae, an expert at the University of North
Korea Studies, said, adding Kim, who turns 67 this month and reportedly suffered
a stroke last summer, is pressing Washington to formulate its North Korea policy
quickly.
"It's a matter of timing," Kim Yeon-chul, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Korea
University," said. "North Korea is saying it can't wait. But this type of move is
unlikely to be of help."
Intelligence reports of an imminent missile launch come after a U.S.
international relations expert told Yonhap News Agency last month that the North
nearly completed the construction of a new rocket-launch facility.
"I understand North Korea could launch a rocket from the facility as early as
this spring if the Paektusan-2, more commonly known as the Taepodong-2, is ready
for testing," Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst at the Brussels-based think tank
International Crisis Group, said on Jan. 29.
North Korea launched a Taepodong-1 over Japan in 1998, sharply escalating
regional tension. Six-nation nuclear talks, which include the two Koreas, the
U.S., China, Japan and Russia, are stalled over Pyongyang's refusal to accept a
U.S. proposal on methods of verification.