An unnamed Japanese government official cited signs of possible preparations for a missile launch based on analysis of satellite imagery.
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The U.N. Security Council is now considering whether to levy additional sanctions against North Korea following the nuclear test, the country’s fourth.
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
North Korea is also seen to be working to miniaturise a nuclear warhead to mount on a missile, but many experts say it is still some time away from perfecting the technology.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Kerry pressed China to use more of its leverage over North Korea as its most important backer, while Wang reiterated China’s reluctance to impose very severe sanctions, saying a new resolution should not heighten tensions.
A multiple rocket launcher during an exercise in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on July 15.
Attention-seeking… North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a newly-built Youth Movement Museum. Bill Urban, a spokesman of the U.S. Defense Department, told Yonhap News Agency.
North Korea is likely to conduct a long-range missile test in an “abrupt” manner, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.
The site was upgraded past year to accommodate the launch of a longer-range rocket, experts have said.
Washington, however, said it had no intention of stopping the drills and would maintain its commitments to South Korea, which it proved by deploying a strategic B-52 bomber on a demonstrative low-altitude flight over South Korea four days after the North’s latest test. The “Hermit Kingdom” demanded that the United States halt its “joint military exercises” with South Korea.
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North Korea appears to be preparing to fire a long-range missile, according to a government source in Japan.
