United States official says activity detected at North Korean launch site

Analysis of satellite imagery suggested preparations were under way for a missile or rocket launch, possibly within a week, the officials said.

The United States regularly monitors North Korea from space, while Japan began satellite monitoring of the country in 2003.

Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, declined to comment on possible pre-launch activities by North Korea, Reuters reported.

United States military officials have said the sophisticated system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) was needed in South Korea, which faces the threat of an increasingly advanced North Korean missile programme.

The latest activity comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity over possible further sanctions against Pyongyang for conducting its fourth nuclear test earlier this month.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed on the need for a significant new United Nations resolution.

“South Korea and the USA probably have more information regarding the North Korean missile program”, one military source said.

U.S. officials cited intelligence suggesting movement of components and propellant, indicating a test could take place even within a couple of weeks.

“Our concern though is that they do a space-launch but really it’s the same technology to develop ICBMs”, the official said, referring to inter-continental ballistic missiles.

Pyongyang last conducted a long-range rocket launch in late 2012, successfully putting a satellite into orbit.

China and Russian Federation, both veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, have helped temper the global reaction to North Korean provocations in the past.

However, he said the North had issued no global warnings on navigation, as it has ahead of previous long-range rocket launches.

North Korea may be preparing a launching test for an apparent long-range ballistic missile.

An Obama administration official said the administration does not oppose the legislation, saying it is deeply concerned about North Korea’s recent actions and sees the most recent test as a “serious setback”.

The U.S. also operates two radars attuned to missile launches.

According to geopolitical experts in Japan, North Korea would downplay its act claiming that it would send a satellite in the space for peaceful research goal.

The UN Security Council subsequently found that it was “a clear violation” of resolutions banning such tests and imposed new sanctions. A hydrogen-based weapon would be a large leap from the plutonium and uranium-based devices Pyongyang had tested before.