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North Korea has activated radar for its planned launch of what the country claims as a communications satellite, signaling that the launch is imminent, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Sunday, quoting an unnamed South Korean source. Yonhap also said South Korea's presidential office convened a National Security Council meeting in a sign confirming the imminent launch. The presidential office earlier said the NSC will be convened only after an actual launch. North Korea has announced that it would launch a satellite sometime between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Saturday to Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2009 – A potential North Korean test launch of a three-stage missile would have a negative impact on efforts to lessen tensions in the region, a U.S. State Department official told reporters here yesterday. Senior U.S. diplomats have urged North Korea “to desist from launching any type of missile,” spokesman Robert Wood said at a news conference. The North Koreans insist that their Taepodong 2 missile that is expected to be launched in the coming days is carrying a communications satellite for peaceful purposes. North Korea’s neighbors South Korea and Japan are alarmed at the possible launch....

SEOUL — North Korea has begun fueling its rocket, a news report said on Thursday, in what missile experts consider a definitive indication that the Communist state will launch it as early as this weekend. As the launching approached, North Korea assumed an increasingly hostile posture. On Thursday, it threatened to send a “thunderbolt of fire” crashing down on Japan if it attempts to shoot down the rocket. North Korea says it will launch the rocket between Saturday and Wednesday to thrust an experimental communications satellite into orbit. But Washington and its allies consider the launch a test of the...

N. Korea will retaliate against any attempt to intercept rocket: military SEOUL, April 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's military warned Thursday it will attack "major targets" in Japan should Tokyo shoot down a satellite it plans to orbit as early as this weekend. The warning comes as leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan are meeting at the G-20 summit in London, with North Korea's rocket launch high on the agenda of their bilateral talks. The three have threatened to bring Pyongyang to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions if it goes ahead with the launch announced as...

North Korea has begun fueling a long-range missile it plans to launch soon, a senior U.S. military official said Wednesday. CNN reported North Korea could be in the final stages of its preparations to launch a satellite into space as early as this weekend. The news network reported that other officials said the top portion of the rocket was put on very recently. Satellite imagery shows a shroud over the launch stage, preventing direct views of what the missile looks like.

SEOUL - NORTH Korea has put all regular and reserve forces on combat alert ahead of its rocket launch, a South Korean aid group said on Tuesday. The hardline communist country has confined all regular soldiers to barracks as well as alerting reserve forces, said the Good Friends group which has contacts in the North. 'Our latest information from North Korea showed all male adults on standby as tensions run high over its satellite launch,' group official Lee Seung-Yong told AFP. He said all men were barred from travelling far from their homes. 'The country is now on semi-war status,'...

N.Korea Offers Obama His 1st International Test "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy." This is the prediction of U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden when he was a candidate last October. The supposition by Biden, whom some consider one of the top diplomatic and national security experts in the Senate, is turning into a very accurate prediction due to the North Korean missile crisis. Perhaps nobody knew it would be North Korea that would be the first to put Obama to the test. The prevailing view is that North Korea...

Intelligence agencies have information that North Korea has assembled several nuclear warheads for its medium-range Rodong missiles capable of targeting Japan, an analyst said Tuesday. Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said the agencies believe that probably five to eight warheads have been assembled. "Intelligence agencies believe the North Koreans have assembled nuclear warheads for Rodong missiles, which are stored at underground facilities near the Rodong missile bases," Pinkston told AFP. "It might be right, it might be wrong -- but if others believe it is true, it has implications for the psychological aspects of deterrence,"...

Korean Launch Could Spur Arms Sales By EVAN RAMSTAD SEOUL -- The long-range missile North Korea is expected to test as soon as Saturday could reach as far as the U.S. and parts of Western Europe. But U.S. military officials and other analysts say the development is most dangerous not because North Korea is likely to use such missiles, but because it will probably sell them to other countries, such as Iran. A successful launch of a long-range missile, after two failures, would validate three decades of investment and work by North Korea. It could also boost one of the...

Russian Expert Foresees Missile Launch 2009-02-23 In an interview with Dan Southerland, Russian historian Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea, advises the U.S. to ignore the war talk from Pyongyang but to keep the country engaged in dialogue. He says a missile launch by North Korea is "very likely." Q. Dr. Lankov, welcome to RFA. The big story in recent months has been the speculation surrounding the apparent stroke suffered by Kim Jong Il. I know that as an historian you don’t like to speculate about succession crises, but I would like you to tell us whether you think...

U.S. Warns It May Shoot Down N.Korean Missile The U.S. state and defense secretaries on Tuesday warned North Korea against a missile test for which the Stalinist country seems to be preparing. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters if North Korea is preparing to test-fire a ballistic missile with the continental United States considered a potential target, then the U.S. could shoot it down. But Gates added, "Since the first time that they launched the missile (in 2006) it flew for a few minutes before crashing, the range of the Taepodong-2 remains to be seen. So far, it's very short."...

Politics/Diplomacy 2008/10/08 03:05 KST N. Korea fires two short-range missiles in Yellow Sea: source SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired two short range missiles in the Yellow Sea adjoining China Monday as part of its routine military training, a defense source here said Tuesday. "We understand that North Korea fired about two missiles in the Yellow Sea in the afternoon of the seventh (of October)," the source said. "It seems that the missiles were fired as part of their routine drill." The missile launch, the first since March when a North Korean naval vessel fired three Styx...

/begin my translation Depressed Market due to Bad Chinese Goods Life of N. Koreans We find out the life in N. Korea from N. Koreans who came to China. People do not go to work because government cannot give out food rations. The authorities cannot come down strongly on them, either. N. Koreans mainly use Chinese products, but many of them turn out to be health hazards, leading to boycotts. For example, lipsticks can cause fever, and skin to be peeled off. Brazier can cause rashes and itching. Worse, one newly-wed couple died after eating apples in 2005, or children...

Background While visiting Finland, Roh Moo-hyun said, "N. Korean missile is too primitive to reach U.S., but too big to be intended for S. Korea." He continued, "Their missile is not a real weapon, but just a prop for political posturing." He basically dismissed any military significance of missile launches, while answering question from local reporters in Finland. Illustration In the following cartoon, there are missiles flying in the sky. Two men on the platform, looking over barbed-wired fence, are named U.S.(left) and Japan(right.) U.S. has a big binocular, Japan a small one. Roh Moo-hyun sitting on the ground, watching...

/begin my translation N. Korea: Troops In Border Area Given Ammo & Grenades 'Good Friends', "N.K. Stepping Up Semi-Wartime Footing " [2006-09-06 18:10] N. Korea notched up its semi-wartime footing in recent days, issuing grenades and ammunition to troops stationed in the border area (with China), while N. Korean General Staff is drawing up a border shutdown plan, according to Sept. 6 issue of the news letter by Good Friends, a N. Korea relief aid agency . The N. Korean General Staffs issued an order on July 30, titled, "To the entire military regarding keeping up their vigilance, and redoubling their...

N. Korean Missile Export... Blocked by China [MBC TV 2006-09-04 21:30]     (Translator's Note: This is the transcript of an evening news segment)[News Desk] Anchor: N. Korea's missile export is being blocked. After shipment by sea had been blocked, N. Korea has been trying to use air shipment, but China is blocking it, according to what we have found. Sino-N. Korean relation is not what it used to be. Correspondent Shin Kyung-min will be reporting.  Correspondent: S. Korean government confirmed to us that N. Korean planes carrying missile components have been blocked by China from using Chinese airspace on many occasions since 2005. U.S. intelligence monitoring...

/begin my translationChina Invites Kim Jong-il ...N. Korea's Decision on Spotlight China is aggressively pursuing Kim Jong-il's visit to China in order to restore deteriorating Sino-N. Korean relationship since N. Korea's missile launches, and forestall its 'further provocation.' In particular, Liu Xiao-ming, the new Chinese ambassador to N. Korea who is to start his work in Pyongyang this week, will convey to N. Korea President Hu Jintao's desire for official invitation, according to sources. According to diplomatic sources in China and Seoul on Sept. 3, after heated debates last month, Chinese leadership decided to actively pursue the restoration of relationship with N....

/begin my translation N. Korea: 'Missile Vehicle' Movements Spotted in Kittaeryong "Watching out for a possibility of launch in mid-September" (Seoul=Yonhap News) Kim Kwi-keun = Recently, S. Korea and U.S. intelligence agencies are  watching out for the possibility of more missile launches in N. Korea, after spotting large vehicles at Kittaeryong, Anbyun County, where N. Korea's missile training base are located. The sources revealed on Sept. 3, "The agencies spotted movements of many large vehicles recently, at Kittaeryong, N. Korea. We do not rule out the possibility that they are preparing for another launch of Rodong and Scud missiles." On...

/begin my excerpt N. Korean Special Train Reportedly Crossed Sino-N. Korean Border The government sources said that it has intelligence which says that N. Korean special train crossed Yalu River into China on Aug. 29. However, they cautioned that they are not certain Kim Jong-il is on board. /end my excerpt

/begin my translation China to Cut Oil Shipment to N. Korea China has cut oil shipment to N. Korea, in order to prevent N. Korea's nuclear test, according to local sources in China on Aug. 26."These days the amount of oil shipped to N. Korea from here has substantially dropped,", said an employee at Basan Oil Repository, located 20km(12.5 miles) away from Dandong, a Chinese city sitting next to Sino-Chinese border. The repository stores oil sent from Daqing Oil Field. Crude oil stored here is sent to the shore of Yalu River 10 km(6.25miles), from which it is shipped to N. Korea. The worker...