Ignoring warning, North puts missile near launching pad

A North Korean missile at a base in Dongchang-ri, North Pyongan, has been transported by cargo train to an assembly building near the launch pad, an informed source said yesterday.

The source said, “The missile was covered but looked to be of a similar shape and slightly longer than the long-range rocket fired on April 5.”

South Korean sources said Monday that North Korea was trying to launch the rocket by mid-June. The rocket is estimated to be an intercontinental ballistic missile with a theoretical range of between 4,000 kilometers (2,485.5 miles) and 6,500 kilometers. It could possibly reach Alaska.

A government source said North Korea has produced three long-range missiles at once in an apparent attempt to improve its missile capabilities after an April launch. A military official said, “It takes a minimum of six months to make progress on long-range missiles and North Korea is really rushing if they’re about to launch another one this month.”

As it allegedly prepares for a long-range missile launch, North Korea was said to be close to testing medium-range missiles yesterday.

One lawmaker who attended a briefing for lawmakers by the Joint Chiefs of Staff quoted military officials as having said North Korea was setting up for a missile test at the east coast base in Anbyon, Gangwon.

Another government source said several vehicles with mobile launchers have been spotted at Anbyon and that “at least three missiles” could be tested from there. Since its nuclear test last Monday, North Korea has fired six short-range missiles. From the Anbyon base, the country launched six missiles in July 2006.

North Korea has taken steps to launch more missiles despite the latest warning from the U.S. government.

Robert Woods, the State Department spokesman, said a missile launch would be “a clear violation” of a UN Security Council resolution adopted after North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006. Resolution 1718 prohibits ballistic missile-related activity as well as further nuclear tests.

“The North, frankly, just needs to end this provocative type of behavior. It’s only inflaming tensions in the region,” Wood said. “We want to see the North live up to its international obligations.”

Woods’ comment comes as a team of U.S. government officials are on a tour of the U.S. partners in the six-party nuclear disarmament talks: South Korea, Japan, China and Russia.

Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg is leading the charge and arrived in South Korea last night after meeting with Japanese officials earlier yesterday. Jiji Press reported that Mitoji Yabunaka, the vice foreign minister in Japan, said the two sides saw the need to review the process of the six-party talks and prior agreements reached during those discussions, while maintaining the current framework of the talks aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea. Also, the Japanese media said Steinberg and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso reaffirmed their stance that they would never recognize North Korea as a nuclear power.

Steinberg’s delegation is to meet with Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, First Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-rak and Kim Sung-hwan, the Blue House Senior Secretary for Foreign Affairs and National Security.

While officials from the six-party talks continue to discuss their response to North Korea, the United Nations Security Council was “making progress” on a new resolution against the North, said Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the UN.

After a closed meeting, Rice said she hopes the council will soon produce “a very worthy and strong resolution.”

The five permanent members of the Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - have been in talks with Japan and South Korea to discuss the resolution. The states have a rough draft of the resolution that “condemns in the strongest terms the nuclear test conducted by [North Korea] on 25 May 2009 in flagrant violation and disregard of its relevant resolutions” and “calls upon all member states immediately to enforce the measures that were put in place by Resolution 1718.”

The new resolution is expected to include expanded sanctions against North Korea, including widening the arms embargo to include all weapons, freezing assets of more companies and individuals linked to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, restricting flights to and from North Korea, and imposing sanctions on the North’s financial and banking operations.

By Yoo Jee-ho [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]