The Korean crisis - ongoing

Missile spotted in 'launch position', United States and South Korean armed forces placed at 'vital alert' Watchcon 2

• US, South Korea declare "Watchcon 2" - the highest level of alert
• 'Multiple launches' expected as more missiles spotted

News.com,

11 April, 2013

NORTH Korea is reportedly 'shuffling' its mobile missile launchers after Japan reported spotting one in a "ready to fire" position.

3:10pm (AEST): Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government was doing everything it could "to protect the lives and the safety of our people''.

"We are aware of all sorts of information. We are sharing information with South Korea and the United States,'' Suga said.

2:58 (AEST): US confirm sea-based radar ready for missile launch

A powerful US military sea-based radar is now in place to detect any possible missile launches by North Korea, according to a senior US defence official in Washington.

"The SBX is in position,'' the defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The official would not offer more details but confirmed the SBX, a floating X-band radar that resembles a giant golf ball, had reached a location at sea where it could track missiles fired by the Pyongyang regime.

North Korea has proved quite adept at confounding intelligence monitoring in the past.

Its long-range rocket launch in December had been widely flagged in advance and was subjected to intense satellite scrutiny. In the end, the rocket blasted off hours after a succession of South Korean media outlets, citing satellite imagery analysis by government, diplomatic and military sources, suggested the launch was facing a lengthy delay.

2:.35 (AEST): Missiles shifted to interfere with monitoring

Several missiles have moved repeatedly on North Korea's east coast in an apparent attempt to interfere with intelligence monitoring by South Korea and the US,

Intelligence analysis, reported by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, stated that the North has moved two Musudan intermediate missiles, which had been concealed in a shed in the eastern port city of Wonsan.

Four or five wheeled vehicles, suspected to be so-called transporter erector launchers (TEL), were also spotted being moved around in South Hamgyeong Province.

1:03 (AEST): United States island of Guam placed on 'yellow' alert

Guam has raised its official threat level and tested its emergency alert system after warnings from North Korea identifying the island as a potential missile target, according to news agency AFP.

With a North Korean missile test expected at any time, authorities said the US territory in the western Pacific was on yellow alert, the middle phase of a three-step "traffic light" system comprising green, yellow and red levels.

"This is the same colour used by government agencies to indicate there is a medium risk for the island," the government said in a statement.

"The government will continue to operate like normal, with a few government agencies participating in emergency preparedness and planning."

12:53 (AEST) South Korea 'ready to activate defence missiles'

Seoul has announced it is ready to activate its Patriot PAC2 missile defence system. The statement said the interceptor missiles cannot cover all of South Korea, but will protect everything within its reach.

The missile system is deployed around Seoul, and is believed to have a reach of up to 30km. 

1:18 (AEST) Two "Musudan" missiles being moved

Yonhap news agency reports intelligence analysts as saying two Musudan missile launchers have been seen moving in and out of a concealed building in the port city of Wonsan.

Several mult-wheeled vehicles, suspected to be transporter erector-launchers, have also been seen on the move in South Hamgyeong Province. 

12:47 (AEST) North Korea shuffles launcher positions

There are reports that South Korean army officials believe North Korea is in the process of moving its missile launchers on the coast of the Sea of Japan to cause confusion among US, Japanese and South Korean intelligence agencies. 

           

12:41 (AEST): China warns North Korea: Do not misjudge situation

South Korean Air Force's E-737 Peace Eye, airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. South Korean and US forces raised their alert status to "vital threat" before an expected North Korean missile test.    

The Chinese People's Daily Online has published an article warning North Korea "not to misjudge" the situation with the United States and South Korea.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has reportedly spoken with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over the phone, expressing severe concern over the current tense situation on the Korean Peninsula.

He reportedly said Beijing "does not allow troublemaking at the doorsteps of China."

The article goes on to defend North Korea's right to develop its weaponry, "but there is no reason to violate the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council to engage in nuclear testing and launch missile using ballistic missile technology".

"The DPRK has its own special circumstances, political needs, policy choices and political language style, which is its internal affairs and the outside world has no right to interfere in. But if its choice and words intensifies the Korean Peninsula tensions and affects peace and stability in the region, it becomes the international issues. The situations development on the peninsula will not necessarily go according to the ideas and expectations of the DPRK." 

12:37 (AEST): Financial markets show little fear

South Korean news agency Yonhap reports local financial markets appear largely unmoved by the most recent developments in the North Korean missile crisis.

Trade is continuing within "normal boundaries". 

12:18 (AEST): Japan says missile may be "Musudan".

South Korean soldiers sit in a truck at the inter-Korean transit office in Paju, South Korea.

A Japanse official has told NBC News that the missile spotted in a firing posture could be the "Musudan" medium range type.

This missile has a potential range of up to 4000km, placing all of Japan and the United States base on the island of Guam within its reach.

It is, however, a relatively new type that has not yet undergone extensive testing.

The official said the discovery may be part of North Korea's "strategy of deception". 

12:10 (AEST): South Korea 'concerned' at developments

Senior South Korean defence officials are reportedly saying they expect a launch within the next few hours.

South Korean officials have announced they are very concerned at the recent sighting.

"Nobody knows if North Korea will launch Scud, Rodong or Musudan (missiles), how many... or (what) direction," a statement read.

"We are at full readiness posture worrying that missile(s) North Korea may launch will threaten our citizens and territory." 

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EARLIER

Kyodo News reports the latest missile launcher sighting comes after Japan moved itself to a heightened state of alert earlier this week, deploying missile to surround the capital Tokyo and key defence facilities.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said that so far Tokyo was responding to the sighting by "gathering a variety of information ... with a sense of tension,'' according to Kyodo.

               

South Korean and US  forces last night raised their alert status to the highest possible level as more missile launchers were spotted on the move.  

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a government source saying Pyongyang might be preparing "multiple" launches, after other launch vehicles were reportedly detected carrying shorter-range SCUD and Rodong missiles.

The military alert status is now at "vital threat" level before an expected North Korean missile test as the Pentagon warned a bellicose Pyongyang it was "skating very close to a dangerous line".

The launch is expected to come at any time.

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The South Korea-US Combined Forces Command raised its "Watchcon" status from 3 to 2 to reflect indications of a "vital threat", Yonhap news agency said, citing a senior military official.

A South Korean protester attaches a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with balloons on a barricade during a rally demanding a regular operations of the Kaesong industrial complex near Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, north of Seoul, South Kore.

Watchcon 4 is in effect during normal peacetime, while Watchcon 3 reflects indications of an important threat. Watchcon 1 is used in wartime.

The North last week told foreign diplomats in Pyongyang they had until April 10 to consider evacuation, fuelling speculation of a launch between April 10 and April 15, during birthday celebrations for late founder Kim Il-Sung.

Any launch could coincide with visits by US Secretary of State John Kerry and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who will both be in Seoul on Friday.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se told parliament the launch could take place "any time" and warned Pyongyang it risked triggering a fresh round of UN sanctions.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters on Wednesday that the United States and its allies hoped Pyongyang would tone down its inflammatory language, but said the American military was prepared for any possibility.

"North Korea ... with its bellicose rhetoric, its actions, has been skating very close to a dangerous line," he said.

"Our country is fully prepared to deal with any contingency, any action that North Korea may take or any provocation that they may instigate."