THE TELEGRAPH: North Korea can expect a "stern, unified action" from the international community if it test-fires a ballistic missile, US President Barack Obama has said.
Mr Obama promised tough action at a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit as reports emerged that Pyongyang had begun fueling the long-range rocket for an impending launch.
US military officials said that technicians have started to fuel up the three-stage Taepodong-2 missile at Musudan-ri launch site in the country's northeast in defiance of a 2006 UN resolution.
Pyongyang has said that the missile-test is a satellite launch not covered by the UN resolution and has informed international agencies that it will fire the rocket as early as Saturday.
US intelligence officials said that analysis of the rocket's nose-cone appeared to confirm claims that it was a satellite launch, but added that the launch was a cover for testing ballistic missile technology capable of delivering a warhead as far as Alaska or Hawaii.
Diplomatic tensions are building on the Korean peninsula, where relations between North and South have sunk to their lowest levels in a decade. >>> By Peter Foster in Beijing | Thursday, April 2, 2009
