South Korea increases surveillance as North moves missile

By Daum Kim and Phil Stewart

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - South Korea has raised its surveillance of North Korea after the reclusive state moved one or more long-range missiles in readiness for a possible launch, Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday.

Admiral Samuel Locklear, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific region, said the U.S. military believed North Korea had moved an unspecified number of Musudan missiles to its east coast.

An Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters "our working assumption is that there are two missiles that they may be prepared to launch". That was in line with South Korean media reports.

The North has been threatening the United States and its "puppet" South Korea on an almost a daily basis in recent weeks, although the threats appear to be aimed partly at boosting internal support for young leader Kim Jong-un.

The Combined Forces Command in Seoul raised its "Watchcon 3" status, a normal defense condition, by one level in order to step up monitoring and increase the number of intelligence staff, a senior military official told Yonhap on Wednesday.

"There are clear signs that the North could simultaneously fire off Musudan, Scud and Nodong missiles," Yonhap quoted an unidentified official as saying.

Pyongyang has frequently tested short-range Scud missiles but the longer-range Musudan and Nodong missiles are an unknown quantity. The Musudan missiles are reckoned to have a range of roughly 3,000-3,500 km (1,865-2,175 miles).

The North has said it would target American bases in the Pacific, although it is not known whether the untested missiles have the range to do so.

"If the missile was in defense of the homeland, I would certainly recommend that action (of intercepting it). And if it was defense of our allies, I would recommend that action," Locklear told a Senate hearing in Washington.

Pyongyang has turned up its shrill rhetoric in recent weeks after the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions for the state's third nuclear weapons test in February.

It has threatened a nuclear strike on the United States - something it does not have the capacity to carry out - and "war" with South Korea.

On Tuesday, it told foreigners in South Korea to leave the country to avoid being dragged into a "thermonuclear war". It previously warned diplomats in Pyongyang to prepare to leave.

The streets of Seoul, a city of 10 million people, bustled as normal on Wednesday morning as commuters travelled to work in sunny, spring-time weather. Foreign embassies in the capital of Asia's fourth-largest economy have played down the latest North Korean threats as rhetoric.

The North closed a money-spinning joint industrial park it operates with South Korean companies this week, putting at risk a venture that is one of its few sources of hard cash.

Analysts say the current tensions will likely last until the end of April, when joint U.S.-South Korean military drills end. The harsh rhetoric also precedes the first anniversary of Kim's formal ascent to power in Pyongyang.

The North has termed the drills "hostile" preparation for invasion by Seoul and Washington, who say the drills are regular annual exercises.

(Writing by David Chance; Editing by Paul Tait)

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North Korea Moves Missile, Could Be Preparing a Test

north korea

U.S. officials suspect that North Korea may be preparing for a test of its Musudan medium-range missile after seeing evidence of it being transported to North Korea's eastern coast. Such a launch would be the latest in a series of provocations by North Korea in recent weeks.

Earlier Thursday, South Korea's defense minister told his nation's lawmakers that a North Korean missile with "considerable range" had been transported to that country's eastern coast. Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said he could not explain the movement and added that the missile was not capable of reaching the United States.

U.S. officials have identified the missile as a mobile-launched Musudan missile estimated to have a range of between 1,800 and 2,500 miles that could put U.S. military bases in Okinawa and Guam within its range.

RELATED: North Korea Relocates Long-Range Missile in Latest 'Rhetorical Threat'

The officials said that, two days ago surveillance satellites detected the movement by train of a Musudan mobile launcher as well as fuel and equipment needed for a missile launch.

One official said it is possible that as many as two missiles could be readied for a potential launch because there were more missile components spotted than might be needed if only one missile was being launched.

The U.S. is trying to locate the location on the eastern coast where the launcher and missile components are currently located.

The officials said there is speculation that a missile test could be in the works and that it could occur soon. Unlike long-range missiles, which can spend weeks on a launch pad in preparation for a launch, mobile-launched missiles can be launched fairly quickly and with little warning.

PHOTOS: Inside North Korea

The Musudan is a medium-range missile that has never been tested before, though it has been publicly paraded by North Korea in the past. U.S. officials have been expecting it to be tested at some point over the past few years.

A U.S. official said that, so far, North Korea has not provided a notice to mariners about a potential missile launch. During previous long-range launches, the North Koreans have listed advance warnings to mariners and aviators. In addition to serving as safety warnings that a missile may land near a body of water, they have also served as indicators of a possible launch. The official said launching this missile without such an advance advisory would be seen as a provocation.

READ MORE: N. Korea's Real Power, Kim Jong Un's Aunt, Uncle

One of the officials said there is also concern about how Japan might react if a North Korean missile were to overfly its territory. Placing the Musudan on the eastern coast indicated the trajectory might take it over Japan. Last December, in advance of North Korea's long-range missile test that month, the Japanese government gave orders to its military shoot down a missile should it appear to be headed for Japanese territory.

That did not happen, as the Unha 3 missile was launched on a southward trajectory away from the Korean Peninsula. Japan has both land-based and ship-based missile interceptors like the ones aboard U.S. Navy ships.

In light of North Korea's recent threats to launch missiles at the United States, the Pentagon has assigned two of its missile-defense-capable Navy destroyers to provide missile defense if needed.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed the destroyers USS John S McCain and USS Decatur had been sent to pre-determined locations in the western Pacific.

The USS Decatur will soon be replaced by the destroyer USS Fitzgerald so that it can return to its homeport of San Diego after a seven-month deployment.

RELATED: U.S. Troops Stand 'Poised to Respond' at NKorea Border

Japan and South Korea both have short-range air missile defense systems, the U.S. Navy ships can provide backup if the trajectory is beyond that range and pose a threat to other partners in the region and U.S. territory.

In the wake of North Korea's missile threat on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that it was sending a land-based missile defense system to Guam.

North Korea also has a mobile-launched, long-range missile known as the KN-08. North Korea has never tested the missile, but it is of particular concern because it can be launched with little warning and is believed to be able to reach parts of the United States.

One official said there has been no worrisome activity related to the KN-08.

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