N. Korea appears to be preparing new missile test

SEOUL (AFP) – Speculation intensified Tuesday that North Korea is preparing another missile launch to coincide with a military anniversary just weeks after conducting its first successful test of an ICBM that experts warned could reach Alaska.

US and South Korean media reports cited intelligence and military officials as saying transporter vehicles carrying launching equipment had been seen on the move.

The test – which both Seoul and Washington officials warned could be of another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – could coincide with the 64th anniversary of the end of the Korean War on July 27, reports said.

This is a public holiday in the nuclear-armed North and celebrated as Victory Day.

The two Koreas have remained technically at war since the three-year conflict ended only with a ceasefire rather than a full peace treaty.

“Movements by transporter erector launchers carrying (ICBM) launch tubes have been continuously observed in North Pyongan (province),’’ a South Korean government source was quoted as saying by the country’s Yonhap news agency.

“There is a high possibility that the North may carry out (the test-launch) around the July 27 armistice day.’’

The North in 2014 marked the armistice anniversary by firing a Scud-B short-range missile on July 26.

Yonhap also cited a South Korean military source as saying Pyongyang may be preparing to test a new type of ICBM or an intermediate-range missile.

On Monday, CNN cited a US defense official as saying the North appeared to be preparing for another missile test. That official said transporter vehicles carrying launching equipment were seen arriving at Kusong in North Pyongan last Friday.

The US network earlier cited US intelligence as indicating preparations for another test of an ICBM or intermediate-range missile.

Kusong has been the scene of past tests, including in May when an intermediate-range ballistic missile travelled more than 700 kilometers (435 miles).