N. Korea May Be Preparing Missile Launch

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So in the news today we have this story as well as Iran saying they will not stop producing weapons grade uranium.

N. Korea May Be Preparing Missile Launch

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO - Japan said it has obtained intelligence indicating that North Korea (news - web sites) may be preparing to test fire a short-range missile, in what would be the latest provocation from the communist country.

Government officials convened an emergency task-force team in the prime minister's office Thursday after intelligence showed that North Korea appears to be beefing up troops and equipment around missile launch bases, said Shigemi Terui, a spokesman at the prime minister's office.

Media reports citing government officials said an immediate launch was not expected. South Korea (news - web sites) said missile-related activities had been detected in the North by U.S. and South Korean militaries.

"There is a high possibility that these were part of the annual, routine activities of North Korean missile units," Rhee Bong-jo, the deputy unification minister, said in Seoul.

Nam Dae-Yeon, spokesman of South Korea's Defense Ministry, said, "we cannot rule out a possibility of a missile launch, so South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are working closely together to follow the movements."

Terui said the task force was gathering more information.

When North Korea test fired a ballistic Taepodong-1 missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean in 1998, it highlighted its military ambitions and penchant for provocation. The North said it was an attempt to insert a satellite into orbit.

The unpredictable communist nation also test fired short-range, land-to-ship missiles into the ocean on at least three occasions last year during an international standoff over its nuclear weapons program. The United States and South Korea criticized them as attempts to force Washington into direct negotiations with North Korea about its nuclear weapons program.

Japan's daily Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper Thursday reported that officials believed North Korea was preparing to launch a short-range Nodong missile or possibly a long-range Taepodong.

Nodong missiles have a range of about 810 miles, while the Taepodong is believed to have a 1,540-mile range. Most of Japan's four main islands fall within their range.

The developments come amid troubling signs in recent weeks from the North, whose previous test launches were widely viewed as attempts to gain leverage in rocky nuclear negotiations.

Angry rhetoric from North Korea's official media has said that Pyongyang could refuse to take part in six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons development. The next round of talks with the United States, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia were planned for late September.

Doubts also remain about a mysterious explosion in North Korea's remote northeastern region on Sept. 9.

Diplomats who visited what North Korea claimed was the site of a huge explosion found no sign it was nuclear. South Korea said a huge mushroom-shaped plume thought to be from the blast occurred 60 miles away from the site where North Korea said it occurred.

The developments also come as the United States prepares to launch a new mission patrolling the Sea of Japan with Aegis-equipped destroyers to monitor any ballistic missile launches — an effort widely seen as being aimed at keeping watch over North Korea.

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