SEOUL — North Korea will soon launch a long-range rocket after completing preparations for putting a satellite into space, its official KCNA news agency said on Saturday.
"The satellite will be launched soon," the report said.
North Korea has set up equipment to monitor the launch, the South's Yonhap news agency quoted a South Korean government official as saying on Saturday.
Saturday is the first day in the April 4-8 timeframe the secretive North, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, has set for what it calls a satellite launch. Pyongyang has said it will come between the hours of 10 p.m. EDT and 3 a.m. EDT.
Western governments believe the launch will in reality be a long-range missile test.
"Looking from the completion of fuelling and the setting up of monitoring cameras, the possibility of a launch within a few hours is very high," the unnamed South Korea government official was quoted as saying.
Yonhap also quoted a South Korean presidential aide as saying that more movements had been spotted near the launch base in Musudan-ri, suggesting a launch could be imminent.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that the international community would take action if North Korea went ahead with the launch to demonstrate to Pyongyang it could not act with impunity.
"We will work with all interested partners in the international community to take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that they cannot threaten the safety and stability of other countries with impunity," Obama told a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Strasbourg, France.
While Washington urged Pyongyang to reconsider its plan to fire off a rocket, a U.S. envoy suggested it may be a foregone conclusion and said he hoped to bring the North back to talks on ending its nuclear programs.
AFTER THE DUST SETTLES
"We will be ... working very closely with our partners to ensure that after the dust of the missiles settles a bit, we get back to the longer-term priority of the ... six-party talks," Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, told reporters in Washington.
While saying the talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States were central to efforts to get North Korea to give up its nuclear programs, he said Washington was ready for direct contact with Pyongyang at any time.
North Korea believes it has the right to launch the rocket as a part of a peaceful space program, while the United States views it as a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution passed in 2006 after Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said it was almost certain the North would fire the missile and, if weather permitted, the launch could happen as soon as Saturday.
South Korea's weather agency said Chongjin, 90 km (56 miles) north of Musudan-ri, would be mostly cloudy with 20 percent chance of rain and strong north-westerly winds on Saturday. There would be better visibility and less wind on Sunday.
Analysts said the launch may help North Korean leader Kim Jong-il shore up support after a suspected stroke in August raised questions of his grip on power and bolster his hand in using military threats to win concessions from global powers.
South Korea and Japan say the launch is a disguised test of the Taepodong-2 missile designed to carry a warhead capable of reaching Alaska. In its only previous test flight, in July 2006, the missile blew apart about 40 seconds after launch.
North Korea says Rocket Launch Imminent
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