Source:
AFPWASHINGTON (AFP) — North Korea seems to be preparing to test-fire its longest-range missile, a US official and reports said Tuesday, a move that would heighten tensions amid stalled disarmament talks and icy relations with South Korea.
"There are some signs that the North Koreans are preparing for a Taepodong-2 launch," the US counter-proliferation official said.
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The missile has a maximum range of 6,700 kilometres (4,150 miles), meaning it could theoretically target Alaska.
Analysts said the North was trying to push the new US administration back to the negotiating table and to strengthen its bargaining position.
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North Korea Reminds Obama: We're a Trouble Spot TooSource:
TimeBy BILL POWELL Tuesday, Feb. 03, 2009If Barack Obama thought a change at the White House might ease a few of the outstanding problems left to him by George W. Bush, North Korea, for one, isn't playing along — and that should surprise no one. Pyongyang is again demonstrating that it's a bipartisan pain in the neck. Whether you're a hawk professing your "loathing" for Kim Jong Il, the dictator who, presumably, still runs Pyongyang, or a dove who wants to extend hands across the water, North Korea has already made clear that nothing has changed as far as it's concerned. In the last week, South Korean military sources have said Pyongyang has moved a long-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into test position; should a launch follow — and South Korean sources say they now expect one in the next month or two — it would be the most provocative act the North has taken since it tested a nuclear weapon in the autumn of 2006. Furthermore, Pyongyang announced late last week that it will no longer recognize any political and military agreements struck with Seoul, including a border demarcation in the so called West Sea, where there have been two bloody clashes between North and South in the last decade.
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