PYONGYANG, North Korea, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- North Korea appears to be preparing to test-fire a long-range missile designed to deliver a nuclear warhead, a South Korean defense official said Tuesday.
The official said U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials recently noted a North Korean train carrying what is thought to be a Taepodong-2 missile, capable of traveling up to 3,728 miles, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. Officials said a launch likely would occur in one to two months.
North Korea tested a Taepodong-2 missile in 2006 -- the same year it tested a nuclear bomb -- but the missile failed after 40 seconds of flight, intelligence officials said.
"This new missile is likely to be an upgraded one," said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea studies professor at Dongguk University in Seoul. "We could even call it a Taepodong-3 missile."
North Korea last month said it had weaponized enough plutonium to create several bombs, Yonhap said.
Information about the missile's transportation follows a Japanese media report in which an intelligence official said a launch was imminent.
"The intelligence report by Japan appears grounded on facts," an official at the South Korean Ministry of National Defense told Yonhap.
Defense officials said senior military commanders have begun discussing Seoul's response.
