North Korea is preparing to launch another intermediate-range ballistic missile in the next 24 to 72 hours, two U.S. officials with knowledge of the latest intelligence assessment tell Fox News.
(FOX)- The pre-Election Day launch of the Musudan missile would be the ninth test launch this year, in addition to two nuclear tests by the communist nation in defiance of United Nations sanctions.
Neither official would specify what the latest satellite imagery showed indicating a launch was days away. The U.S. military is concerned that the Musudan can be launched from concealable road-mobile launchers, typically from highways or mountainous areas. North Korean officials have long expressed a desire to build a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile to strike the United States.
North Korea has shown a propensity to conduct missile launches around major events in the United States. In early February, Superbowl Sunday in the United States, North Korea launched a satellite into space.
One of the Musudan launches came before the final presidential debate and while top South Korean leaders visited Washington earlier this month.
“In this case, I think it’s a real test,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a scholar at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies specializing in North Korea. “They are going to keep firing until it works.”
In March, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning a January nuclear test as well the long range launch putting the satellite in space. Resolution 2270 calls on North Korea not conduct further tests and immediately suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program.
(Photo Credit: Reuters via Fox News)