This combo shows a file picture taken on April 15, 1992 of then-North Korean President Kim Il-Sung (L) during the celebration marking his 80th birthday at Kim Il-Sung stadium in Pyongyang and a file photo taken on April 15, 2012 of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un as he watches a military parade to mark 100 years since the birth of the country's founder and his grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, in Pyongyang. (Photo: AFP/ JIJI PRESS; R-image, Ed Jones (R) JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images)
The Musudan or BM-25 missiles have a range of just under 2,500 miles, enough to threaten not only South Korea and Japan but also Guam, where U.S. military forces are stationed, Yonghap says. It would be the first test-launch of this particular version of the weapon.
The source tells the news agency that the fact that the missiles have remained in place since last month points to a possible launch Friday to mark the 104th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea and the grandfather of Kim Jong-un. The North has celebrated this so-called "Day of the Sun" in the past with elaborate military events.
Last month, the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea's most recent latest ballistic missile launches, calling them "unacceptable," a clear violation of U.N. resolutions banning such tests, and a threat to regional and international security, the Associated Press reported.
The council met March 18 hours after the North fired a medium-range missile from a site north of Pyongyang that flew about 500 miles before crashing into the sea off the country's east coast. The resolution also condemned the North's firing of short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on March 10, in response to new sanctions from South Korea.
Pyongyang usually notifies the International Maritime Organization, a global shipping regulation body, in advance of a planned test launch but had not as of Thursday, the news agency says.
