Concerns are growing that North Korea could launch a missile test aimed at the west coast of America.
64 years on from the the Armistice Agreement of 27 July 27 1953, which signalled the end of the Korean War, US government sources in South Korea told the Yonhap News Agency that transporter erector launchers, carrying international continental ballistic missiles (ICBM) launch tubes have been moved by North Korea.
Credit: PA
The test, according to an anonymous source, is reportedly likely to be an intermediate-range missile, known as either a KN-20 or Hwasong-14.
A South Korean government source told Yonhap: "There is a high possibility that the North may carry out (the test launch) around the July 27 armistice day."
If North Korea does test another missile, it will be the second one in a month.
On 4 July (American Independence Day), North Korea successfully tested an ICBM. The private country's state media, KCNA, reported the launch.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects the launch of a Hwasong-14 ICBM. Credit: PA
Following that test, North Korea threatened to strike the US after comments made by the CIA director, Mike Pompeo.
He said: "As for the regime, I am hopeful we will find a way to separate that regime from this system.
"The North Korean people I'm sure are lovely people and would love to see him go."
KCNA responded by saying that the comments were 'over the line' and that it was clear the 'ultimate aim' of the Trump presidency was to change the regime.
A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson told the news agency: "The DPRK legally stipulates that if the supreme dignity of the DPRK is threatened, it must pre-emptively annihilate those countries and entities that are directly or indirectly involved in it, by mobilizing all kinds of strike means including the nuclear ones.
"Should the US dare to show even the slightest sign of attempt to remove our surpreme leadership, we will strike a merciless blow at the heart of the US with our powerful nuclear hammer, honed and hardened over time."
Earlier this year, Aidan Foster-Carter, an honorary research fellow at Leeds University, said that the concern for all-out war depends on China's involvement.
Credit: PA
"China would step in for North Korea, here there is absolute continuity," assures Foster-Carter.
"China is annoyed with North Korea but it doesn't want to lose it. It doesn't want a state with US troops right on its border. If Trump does something in this sense, it would be secondary against Chinese firms.
"The idea of two superpowers colliding doesn't bare thinking about. We can only hope that US and China have secret contingency plans about North Korea."
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Source: Daily Mail
Topics: America, Donald Trump, North Korea
