N. Korea may be preparing long-range missile test
The country's saber-rattling has been seen as an attempt to win President Obama's attention.
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea appears to be gearing up for another long-range missile test, the latest in a series of provocative acts seemingly aimed at stoking tensions with South Korea and winning the attention of President Obama.
In recent weeks, Pyongyang has declared it will scrap peace agreements with Seoul and warned of war on the Korean peninsula. Reports that it could be preparing to test a missile capable of reaching the western United States have added to the anxiety.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported yesterday that a vehicle carrying radar equipment was seen moving to a launch site on the North's eastern coast from a munitions factory near Pyongyang.
"It can be analyzed that the North is proceeding with a missile launch preparation in stages," Yonhap quoted a South Korean official it did not name as saying.
South Korean and Japanese media said last week that intelligence agents had spotted a train carrying a long, cylinder-shaped object - believed to be a long-range missile - to the launch site at Musudan-ni.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has played down reports of possible North Korean missile-launch preparations, noting Tuesday that Pyongyang's last such test in 2006 was a failure and that the United States could shoot down a North Korean missile "should we deem it necessary."
Nevertheless, North Korea's saber-rattling has been interpreted as an attempt to grab Obama's attention; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is scheduled to visit South Korea next week.
Clinton hopes to appoint a special envoy to deal with U.S. policy on North Korea before she leaves for Asia, to demonstrate the Obama administration's commitment to addressing North Korea's nuclear-weapons program, the Associated Press has learned.
The stalled multinational dialogue to disarm North Korea resumed late last year after the United States removed the country from its list of nations that sponsor terrorism. Those talks also involved China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman warned yesterday that North Korea's actions could disrupt the disarmament process.
"I think activities of this nature, should they be taking place, would be harmful to the ongoing efforts, the diplomatic efforts within the six-party talks," Whitman said. "It's always been our position that North Korea should refrain from provocative actions that might aggravate tensions in the region."
The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan said they were mindful about the possibility of another North Korean missile test.
"Both of us shared concerns about North Korea's intentional acts of stoking tension . . . and urge North Korea to behave in a way that contributes to regional stability," South Korean Foreign Minster Yu Myung Hwan said at a news conference in Seoul with his Japanese counterpart, Hirofumi Nakasone.
The National Intelligence Service, South Korea's main spy agency, said it could not comment because the report was related to intelligence matters. The Defense Ministry said it was checking the report.
South Korea's Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military had not upgraded its alert status.