North Korea 'preparing to launch long-range missile'
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Version 0 of 1. North Korea may launch a long-range missile next month, it has been reported. According to the Korea Times, South Korea’s Defence Ministry told its National Assembly that a missile may be launched around 10 October, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the dictatorship’s Workers’ Party. The newspaper said the North is currently finishing construction at its rocket launch facility on its west coast border. The possibility of the missile launch comes after both countries reportedly reached an agreement this summer to defuse mounting tensions between them, with the South saying it agreed to halt anti-North Korean broadcasts on the countries shared border on the condition of “no abnormal situations”. The agreement followed an explosion of landmines, which killed two South Korean soldiers, on the southern side of the demilitarised zone, on its border with North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the test-fire of a strategic submarine underwater ballistic missile (not pictured) South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told the Korea Times: “The government is closely watching related situations. “Seoul plans to drum up global support to encourage the North to sincerely implement the inter-Korean deal and to prevent it from making an additional provocation.” The South’s Defence Ministry also said it would be carrying out “aggressive” military operations near the demilitarised zone going forward. In May, the North's National Defence Commission said the country had made a major breakthrough in its nuclear weapons programme, making warheads small enough to fit on missiles. The commission said Kim Jong-un's secretive state was willing to use the technology to "defend the North" and warned the US not to challenge its military development. |