Reporting from Seoul — North Korea has positioned its most sophisticated long-range ballistic missile on a launch pad for a test firing that could come within weeks, a newspaper here reported Monday.
Pyongyang, which last month raised tensions worldwide by conducting a nuclear test, could even fire its missile when South Korean President Lee Myung-bak meets President Obama in Washington on June 16, according to the report.
In recent days, North Korea has ordered all shipping traffic from waters off its west coast, a ban it said was effective through July.
The move comes while the U.N. Security Council contemplates new sanctions against North Korea’s underground nuclear test and launching of five short-range missiles last month.
The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper in Seoul reported that the newest missile set for launch from the Dongchang-ni launch site on North Korea’s west coast may be a version of the Taepodong-2 rocket that Pyongyang fired in April.
The report, citing unnamed sources, said the missile has a range of up to 4,000 miles and could reach Alaska. Both South Korea and Japan acknowledged today that a new North Korean long-range missile test could come within weeks.
“Given that North Korea has carried out a nuclear test, we can’t deny the possibility that they will further test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told a news conference in Tokyo.
From LA Times.
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