North Korea has moved a long-range rocket to its northwestern launch site in preparation for a launch next month, South Korean officials said yesterday, as Pyongyang pushes ahead with plans that Washington says are a cover for testing long-range missile systems.
“South Korean and US military authorities are aware that North Korea has moved the main body of a long-range missile [to Tongchang-ri] and is preparing for launch,” a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said without giving details.
South Korean Defense Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff officials said that the information comes from the South Korean and US militaries. They provided no further details and spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.
North Korea says it will launch a satellite into space on a long-range rocket around the April 15 celebration of the centennial of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung. Pyongyang says the launch is part of a peaceful space program.
Washington has warned that the launch could jeopardize a recent deal that would ship US food aid to the North in exchange for a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests.
The US says the North uses such launches as cover for testing missile systems for nuclear weapons that could target Alaska and beyond.
Preparations for the launch “have entered a full-fledged stage of action,” the North said on Friday.
It warned the South’s conservative government not to raise the launch or the North’s nuclear program at the summit, threatening the “strongest countermeasures which no one can imagine.”
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