Spy satellites have spotted signs that North Korea may be preparing to transport another long-range missile to a test launch site, South Korean officials said yesterday, as the US secretary of defense issued his harshest warning to the North since its recent nuclear test.
“We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in Asia — or on us,” US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a regional defense meeting in Singapore.
He said North Korea’s nuclear program was a “harbinger of a dark future,” but wasn’t yet a direct threat.
Since last Monday’s nuclear blast, North Korea has test-launched six short-range missiles in a show of force and announced it won’t honor the 1953 truce that ended the fighting in the Korean War.
Now, the reclusive communist state appears to be preparing to move a long-range missile by train from a weapons factory near Pyongyang to its northeastern Musudan-ni launch pad, a South Korean defense ministry official said.
Images of the movements were captured by US satellites, said the official, who was not allowed to be identified when discussing intelligence matters.
The threat of a long-range missile test comes amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear program.
North Korea, believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least six nuclear bombs, walked away from international disarmament negotiations last month in anger over UN criticism of a rocket launch Washington and others called a cover for the test of long-range missile technology.
Experts say Pyongyang is working toward mounting a nuclear bomb on a long-range missile, one capable of reaching the US.
Gates and the defense ministers of Japan and South Korea said North Korea must not be allowed to continue playing a dangerous game of brinksmanship in hopes of winning aid.
“We must make North Korea clearly recognize that it will not be rewarded for its wrong behaviors,” South Korea Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said.
Officials in Washington said they noticed increased activity at the test site. They spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday, saying methods of gathering information about North Korea were sensitive.
Yonhap said the size of the missile was similar to a long-range rocket the North tested last month.
Experts have said the new three-stage rocket has a potential range of more than 6,700km, putting Alaska within its striking distance.
The North is likely to fire the missile shortly after the UN Security Council adopts a resolution criticizing its recent nuclear test, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies.
The resolution is expected to call on all countries to immediately enforce sanctions imposed by an earlier UN resolution after Pyongyang’s first nuclear test in 2006.
The sanctions include a partial arms embargo, a ban on luxury goods and ship searches for illegal weapons or material. They have been sporadically implemented, with many of the 192 UN member states ignoring them.
The draft would also have the Security Council condemn “in the strongest terms” the recent nuclear test “in flagrant violation and disregard” of the 2006 resolution.
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