North Korea has stepped up preparations for a missile test as Japan fears for its security, a news report said yesterday.
An additional rocket section has arrived at a North Korean launch site within the last 48 hours as the country apparently prepares for a missile test, Kyodo News agency said, citing US military officials in Washington.
The missile is believed to be a long-range Taepodong-2 missile test, capable of reaching the US mainland with a light payload, Kyodo said. The information was based on satellite images received in the last 48 hours. While the missile has not been loaded with fuel, it has been moved to a test site in the country's northeast, Kyodo said.
Earlier yesterday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said a launch would threaten Japanese security but refused to comment when asked if such a launch was imminent.
"If North Korea launches the reported ballistic missile, which will directly affect Japan's security, it would be a violation of the Japan-Pyongyang Declaration," Abe said.
The declaration was signed in 2002 at Japan-North Korea summit in Pyongyang, and reaffirmed by the two nations in 2004, he said.
KBS, South Korea's largest television network, reported on Thursday that the reclusive communist nation was in the final stages of preparation for a launch that could come within a week.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Choo Kyu-ho and other officials said they didn't have any such information.
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