THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: North may launch ballistic missile

The South Korean military says North Korea is preparing to launch a ballistic missile. According to sources, the North appears to preparing to launch a new Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile from its east coast.

Meanwhile, North Korean media condemn South Korea for conducting anti-poaching operations in neutral waters between the 2 countries,saying it's a military provocation. The South Korean military, its coast guard, and UN forces have been working together to stop blue crab poaching by Chinese fishing boats at the mouth of the Han River, which flows into the Yellow Sea. The KCNA says the area is a place no military forces of both Koreas have entered since the 1953 armistice.

Then, a senior North Korean official has arrived in Beijing to attend the global security conference for northeast Asia. Choe Son Hui, the deputy chief of US affairs bureau at North Korea's Foreign Ministry is attending the three-day conference organized by a US university that starts on Tuesday. The meeting brings together officials from the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program as well as private researchers. This is the first time in four years that North Korea has sent a participant to the annual conference.

Source: NHK World