North Korea Is Prepared to Launch Ballistic Missiles Anytime

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“Seoul is aware that North Korea is prepared to launch a ballistic missile at anytime,”

a South Korean military official says. And so it may be.

North Korea may be preparing to soon launch its first mobile ballistic missile, designed to put the mainland United States within range.

A mobile launcher was spotted carrying up to two Musudan missiles, Yonhap, South Korea’s news agency, reported last week, following the North’s fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month, which led to fresh U.N. sanctions.

The US intelligence satellites were the first to have picked up such indications, and the potential launch of Musudan missile is feared to be capable of reaching Guam, as well as Shemya Island in the outer reaches of Alaska’s Aleutian chain, CNN reported.

The North could also attempt to test the longer-range, road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile KN-08 or its advanced version, KN-14, which are believed to be capable of reaching the West Coast of the continental U.S., the report said.

Defense World reports that South Korea, in the meantime, is making all-out preparations against the possibility of an additional provocation.

The North recently claimed that it successfully carried out a ground test of a powerful ICBM engine, with leader Kim saying that the test “provided a firm guarantee for mounting another form of nuclear attack upon the U.S imperialists.”

After analyzing images of the test, U.S. missile expert John Schilling said the test demonstrated Pyongyang is capable of building road-mobile, long-range missiles that can deliver nuclear warheads as far as Washington and New York.