North Korea building cover over launch platform

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- North Korea has placed a large roof over a rocket-launching platform at Sohae Satellite Launching Station – a sign that activity at the site is gathering pace.

The latest development at the station in Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province near the China border was detected after Seoul said North Korea recently built a 17-meter extension to a 50-meter launch pad.

Sohae is the platform where in 2012 North Korea launched the expandable carrier rocket Unha-3, which fell into the Yellow Sea.

The debris of a second stage launch fell into the Philippine Sea after an object had entered orbit.

An unidentified diplomatic source in Washington said it is likely Pyongyang is building the rooftop to stay out of U.S. surveillance, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday. The roof is expected to be finished in mid-August, and the source said it is a sign North Korea is accelerating preparations for a missile launch.

Seoul expects any North Korea launch around the Oct. 10 Workers' Party anniversary would be used as a provocation against the South.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Min-seok said Monday it would be "hard to figure out whether or not a missile is being assembled under the rooftop," South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

But Kim said there are other signs at the field that could be used to figure out whether North Korea is planning a provocation with a long-range missile launch.

On Sunday satellite images indicated the steel platform at the site was completely covered.