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         Yonhap: North Korea Preparing New Medium Range Missile Launch

   by VOA News

   South Korea's Yonhap news agency says North Korea is preparing a second
   launch of a new, powerful mid-range missile capable of reaching U.S.
   military installations in the Pacific.

   Yonhap says it learned from an unidentified government official that
   the military "is picking up signs which indicate" that the North will
   launch the Musudan "in the near future."

   But a spokesman for South Korea's Defense Ministry said the ministry
   had no such intelligence to confirm Yonhap's story.

   The Musudan is based on an old Soviet submarine launched ballistic
   missile design that the North converted to be fired from a mobile
   land-based launcher.  It has a range of anywhere between 3,000-4,000
   kilometers, which includes the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

   ''Pyongyang test launched a Musudan missile on April 15, the birthday
   of Kim Il Sung, the country's first president and grandfather of
   current leader Kim Jong Un.  South Korean and U.S. officials say the
   launch was a failure.

   North Korea claimed Saturday it conducted a submarine-launched
   ballistic missile test personally supervised by Kim Jong Un.

   South Korea called the test a failure, noting the missile traveled only
   30 kilometers before falling into the sea.

   The North has been conducting a continuous series of missile launches
   in recent weeks, in defiance of a new, stronger set of sanctions
   imposed by the United Nations over its fourth nuclear test in January,
   and a ballistic missile test the following month. And South Korean
   President Park Geun-hye said recently there are indications Pyongyang
   is preparing to conduct a fifth nuclear test.

   Analysts believe Kim Jong Un will use the test to cement his hold on
   power and enhance his image within the country as it prepares for a
   rare and major ruling Workers Party congress in early May.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/yonhap-north-korea-preparing-new-medi
   um-range-missile-launch/3302806.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/yonhap-north-korea-preparing-new-medium-range-missile-launch/3302806.html