North Korea is in the final stages of preparations to test a long-range ballistic missile that could launch within a week, a news report said yesterday.
The only remaining steps to go for the test would be setting up the launch pad and injecting solid fuel into a Taepodong-2 missile, said KBS, South Korea's largest television network, citing an unidentified high-level government official.
US reach
A Taepodong-2 missile is capable of reaching as far as the US mainland with a light payload.
The report didn't provide further details.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Choo Kyu-ho and other officials said they didn't have any such information.
But another government official, who requested not to be identified, said the Seoul government con-veyed its concern to the North last month over a possible test.
Japanese and South Korean officials said last month the North had moved a missile to a launch site in a sign it was preparing a test launch. A senior South Korean intelligence official said it remained unclear whether the North was seeking to demonstrate its missile capability or was really preparing to fire a missile.
Warning
On Wednesday, US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow warned North Korea against firing a missile, saying Washington would take unspecified "appropriate measures in response."
Seoul's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon also said its ministry "was in discussions with related departments on possible measures" in case of a North Korean missile test.
The government's response to a missile launch would center on slowing the pace of economic cooperation with North Korea, the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported.
However, Seoul would also declare its opposition to military action against the North, the paper said, quoting an unnamed government official.
North Korea sent shock waves through the region when it test-fired a ballistic missile over northern Japan in 1998.
The North's missile program has been a major security concern in the region, on top of its pursuit of nuclear bombs. It has been under a self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile tests since 1999. Still, it has since test-fired short-range missiles many times, including two in March.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese