Fears grow North Korea testing missiles

Intelligence has been received by Japan indicating that North Korea may be preparing to test launch a short-range missile.

Information has shown North Korea beefing up troops and equipment around missile launch bases, according to Shigemi Terui, a spokesman for the Japanese prime minister’s office.

The Japanese government has now set up an emergency task-force team to help gather more information.

The secretive communist nation has test-fired short-range missiles into the ocean on several occasions last year during an international stand-off over its nuclear weapons program.

In Seoul, Defence Ministry spokesman Nam Dae-Yeon, said the South Korean and US militaries recently detected missile-related activities in North Korea, adding they “are probably part of its annual military drill”.

“But if the situation progresses, we cannot rule out the possibility of a missile launch, so South Korean and US intelligence authorities are working together closely to follow the movements in the North,” he said.

Rhee Bong-jo, South Korea’s deputy unification minister, echoed his comments.

The daily Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported today that North Korea was preparing to launch Nodong missiles, which have a range of about 810 miles and would be capable of striking parts of Japan’s main islands.

The Yomiuri said Japan dispatched an Aegis-equipped destroyer and other surveillance equipment to the Sea of Japan on Tuesday in order to monitor the situation.

North Korea launched a Taepodong missile over Japan’s main island and into the Pacific Ocean in 1998, demonstrating that virtually any target in Japan was within its range.

The report comes amid troubling rhetoric recently from Pyongyang that has slowed efforts to hold six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons development. The next round of talks with the US, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia were planned for late September.