(Reuters) – It is premature to say whether recent activity at some of North Korea’s rocket facilities involved preparation for a missile launch, South Korea’s defence minister told a parliamentary hearing on Monday.
Early in March, several American think-tanks and South Korean officials reported that satellite imagery showed possible preparations for a launch from the Sohae rocket launch site at Tongchang-ri, North Korea, which has been used in the past to launch satellites but not intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.
“It’s hasty to call it missile-related activity,” Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo told a parliamentary defence committee.
“Tongchang-ri is a launch site but we don’t see any activity being carried out for a missile launch.”
