NORTH KOREA IS PREPARING STELLITE LAUNCH

SEOUL, South Korea: North Korea said Tuesday it is preparing to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to an impending launch that neighbors and the U.S. suspect will be a provocative test of a long-range missile.

The statement from the North's space technology agency comes amid growing international concern that the communist nation is gearing up to fire a version of its most advanced missile — capable of reaching the U.S. — in coming days, in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution.
North Korea asserted last week that it bears the right to "space development" — words the regime has used in the past to disguise a missile test. In 1998, North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan and then claimed to have put a satellite into orbit.
"The preparations for launching experimental communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 by means of delivery rocket Unha-2 are now making brisk headway" at a launch site in Hwadae in the northeast, the North's agency said in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency. The report did not say when the launch would take place.
Intelligence officials reported brisk personnel and vehicle activity at the Hwadae launch site, the Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.
However, the North has not yet placed the missile on a launch pad, the report said. After mounting the missile, it would take five to seven days to fuel the rocket, experts say.
Analysts said Pyongyang was using brinkmanship to put pressure on the new U.S. government and its main allies in the region, South Korea and Japan, to reverse tough policies against the North. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a trip to Asia last week, warned North Korea against any provocative moves.

Courtesy: AP ....and Reuters....