N.Korea preparing long-range missile test

S.KOREA: North Korea’s apparent preparations for a ballistic missile test, reportedly detected by South Korean officials monitoring a train headed to a launch site, appear to be the country’s latest attempt to get President Barack Obama’s attention.

A South Korean official on Tuesday confirmed the preparations, first reported by Japanese and South Korean media citing sources as saying the missile had the potential to reach the western United States.

“There are signs North Korea is preparing for a missile launch,” the intelligence official told The Associated Press. He declined to give further details and spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said any North Korean ballistic missile launch would be “unhelpful and, frankly, provocative” as the U.S. and others work to persuade the North to scrap its atomic weapons.

Wood said North Korean missile activities and programs are a “concern to the region” but would not speak further about the South Korean reports.

Another U.S. official said American intelligence had detected no new recent activity by the North Koreans toward launching a test - none since October. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

South Korean intelligence has spotted a train carrying a long, cylinder-shaped object - believed to be a long-range missile - heading to a new launch site on North Korea’s west coast, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

North Korea’s clandestine missile program has been a key regional concern, along with its nuclear weapons program.

However, North Korea is not believed to have acquired the technology to develop a nuclear warhead light enough to be mounted on a missile, another South Korean intelligence official said. He would not give his name, citing department policy.

Tensions spiked on the Korean peninsula last week when the North declared it was abandoning pacts designed to prevent hostilities with the South. Relations between the Koreas have been tense since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office a year ago with a tough new policy on Pyongyang.

Seoul, Wednesday, AP