Increased activity around a North Korean site suggests preparations for a possible space launch in the near future, U.S. officials say.
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Japanese news agency Kyodo reprted earlier Thursday that recent satellite images indicate that North Korea is preparing to test-fire long-range ballistic missiles.
Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, declined to comment on possible pre-launch activities by North Korea, Reuters reported.
“We must also send a strong message to China… that the United States would use every economic tool at its disposal” to stop North Korea, Gardner said.
North Korea is under United Nations sanctions over launching missiles considered by the USA and South Korea as ballistic and aimed at delivering nuclear warheads.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved legislation to broaden existing sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear program, human rights record and cyber activities.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) and senior Chinese Communist Party official Liu Yunshan (R) wave during celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. But South Korea, the United States and other countries suspect Pyongyang is developing missiles that could be used to strike Japan and the U.S.
The post US official says activity detected at North Korean launch site appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
The Chinese have effectively resisted new sanctions against their North Korean client state for years, calling instead for a few targeted sanctions against individual North Korean officials, a measure the Times notes would be “unlikely to have serious repercussions”.
The Japanese news agency, Kyodo, cited an unnamed Japanese government source as saying that satellite imagery analysis showed the North may be readying to fire a long-range ballistic missile from Sohae, and that the launch could occur in about a week at the earliest.
Airbus Defense & Space and 38 North satellite imagery shows three objects at the base of the gantry tower that are either vehicles or equipment at Sohae Satellite Launching Station in North Korea.
Other observers have noted that North Korea has yet to issue a maritime shipping alert – a standard procedure it has adhered to with previous long-range tests.
Harris also told reporters after his speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington that it made sense to put a mobile missile defense system known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense in South Korea.
Kerry and Yi said they agreed to hasten the completion of the UN Security Council’s draft resolution concerning North Korea’s latest test blast, but admitted that they have yet to decide the actual content of the document.
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“We assess that they have the capability to reach the homeland with a nuclear weapon from a rocket”, said Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defence Command.
