Concern that N. Korea may test ballistic missile

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea declared Tuesday it is making "brisk headway" in plans to send a satellite into orbit as part of its space program, a launch regional powers fear is a cover-up for testing a long-range ballistic missile capable of striking the West Coast and Alaska.

Analysts called the announcement yet another bid for President Obama's attention as he met Tuesday in Washington with Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan, a key ally in the regional push to get North Korea to give up its nuclear program.

North Korea's declaration came just days after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a trip to Asia, urged the country to put an end to "provocative actions."

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution prohibiting North Korea from engaging in any ballistic activity after a missile launch in 2006. North Korea could face additional sanctions if it violates the resolution.

The country hinted at a plan to launch a satellite last week when it marked leader Kim Jong Il's 67th birthday by asserting North Korea's right to develop a peaceful space program — words the regime has used in the past to disguise a missile test.

A statement carried Tuesday by state-run Korean Central News Agency said "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 County in the northeast.

North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile over Japan in 1998, a launch the regime also claimed was a satellite.

Hwadae was the site for the 2006 test launch of North Korea's longest-range missile, the Taepodong-2, which has the potential to reach Alaska. Reports suggest the missile being readied for launch could be an advanced version of the Taepodong-2 with even greater range.

It probably won't be clear if the latest launch is a satellite or a missile test until footage can be analyzed after the event.

Intelligence officials reported activity at the site but no sign of a rocket on the launchpad, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Tuesday. The satellite announcement comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has pledged to end a decade of unconditional handouts for the nuclear-armed neighbor, while the North has ramped up its anti-Lee rhetoric, warning that the Koreas are headed for a military clash.

Relations between the two countries improved as previous South Korean leaders sought to coax the impoverished North to the negotiating table with warm words and unconditional aid.

But that didn't stop the country from launching missiles in 1998 and 2006, then conducting a nuclear test later that year. The first test missile went all the way to Japan, but the launch in 2006 ended in the ocean soon after liftoff.

Experts believe the North has yet to master the miniaturization technology required to mount a nuclear warhead onto a missile.

But the test spurred regional powers to hash out a 2007 pact promising Pyongyang aid in exchange for disabling its nuclear program.

After blowing up a cooling reactor last June, the North halted disablement weeks later. Talks in Beijing in December failed to jump-start the process, with analysts predicting North Korea would wait to see how open Obama is to establishing direct ties.

Reports suggest the missile being prepared could be an advanced version of the Taepodong-2 with even greater striking range: the West Coast and Alaska.

Analyst Koh Yu-hwan of Dongguk University predicted any launch would take place after North Korea holds parliamentary elections March 8 and the legislature meets weeks later to "re-elect" Kim as leader.