Pressure builds against N Korea

The Taepodong missile could reach Alaska (archive picture)

International pressure is mounting on North Korea amid speculation it may soon test-launch a long-range missile.

Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tokyo would take "stern measures" against any launch.

North Korea has kept to a self-imposed moratorium on launching long-range missiles since 1999.

Any successful launch would seriously worry its neighbours as well as the US, since the missile to be tested is believed to be able to reach Alaska.

An unnamed American official told the New York Times on Sunday that North Korea had completed fuelling its Taepodong 2 missile - seen as a critical step in the preparations for a test launch.

State department officials had also taken the unusual step of making direct contact with North Korean delegates at the United Nations to warn against a launch, the newspaper said.

N Korea's missile programme

"We needed to make sure there was no misunderstanding," an unnamed senior administration official is quoted as saying.

Pyongyang has been silent on any possible launch, but in comments carried through its state news agency KCNA, it criticised the attitude of the US and Japan towards North Korea.

"The Korean army and people will do their best to increase the military deterrent with sharp vigilance to cope with the moves of the US, which is hell-bent on provocations for war of aggression on the DPRK ( Democratic People's Republic of Korea)," the statement said.

The missile concerns follow months of stalemate on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Correspondents say North Korea may be using the missile threat to try to break the deadlock. Its demands have been largely ignored while Washington has focused on the nuclear challenge from Iran.

Potential to hit the US

Speculation has been mounting for some time that the North was preparing for a test, after US satellites started noticing preparations at North Korea's Taepodong launch site at Musudan-ri.

North Korea's every move is being monitored

South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo recently reported that booster rockets had been loaded onto a launch pad, and 10 fuel tanks moved to the site in the north-east of the country in preparation for a launch.

The information came from US and South Korean satellite images of the site, the daily said.

North Korea last tested a long-range missile in 1998, when it fired a Taepodong-1 missile, with a range of 2,000km, over northern Japan. The missile landed in the Pacific Ocean.

Diplomats say that North Korean technicians are going through the same procedures undertaken before the test in 1998.

The Taepodong-2 is believed to have a range of up to 6,000km (3,700 miles), suggesting it has the potential to hit Alaska.