Seoul - An intercontinental missile has been brought to an assembly hall at a new launch site on North Korea's north-west coast, a South Korean newspaper reported Wednesday. The missile appeared to be a longer version of the Taepodong 2 rocket that North Korea was believed to have fired April 5, an informed source told the JoongAng Ilbo.
The United States fears that if the Taepodong undergoes further technical development that it could be equipped with a nuclear warhead and could reach western US territory.
US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said on a visit to Seoul that North Korea should stop its provocations and return to the negotiating table.
The United States and South Korea are in agreement that close cooperation is necessary to deal with future actions by Pyongyang, he said.
"Now is the time for North Korea, rather than continuing to take more dangerous and provocative actions, to recognize the better course is to re-engage and to get back on the path of negotiations toward denuclearization," Steinberg said.
The high-ranking US delegation led by Steinberg and including the country's special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, travelled Tuesday from Japan to South Korea to discuss what action to take over North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.
Those three countries along with China and Russia are involved in talks with North Korea aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programme, but those talks have been stalled since late last year.
Tensions with North Korea escalated with the April rocket launch and a nuclear test last week, both of which were condemned by the UN Security Council.
Ignoring the criticism, North Korea fired six short-range missiles after the nuclear test, its second after an initial one in 2006, and appeared to be preparing to launch another long-range missile.
South Korean media also reported Tuesday while citing unnamed government officials that North Korea also appeared to be preparing to launch several medium-range missiles from its south-eastern coast.
The medium-range missiles are considered threats to South Korea and Japan, which lie in their ranges.
