MOSCOW, May 7 (RIA Novosti) – Two North Korean mid-range missiles reportedly prepared for launch in April were recently withdrawn from their coastal positions, South Korean news agency Yonhap said Tuesday.
The move follows the lifting by Pyongyang of its highest combat alert for its armed forces, an unnamed senior official in the South Korean government was cited as saying.
It remained unclear whether the two Musudan intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBM) missiles were redeployed or moved to a storage facility, though an unnamed source at the US government cited by Reuters said the latter is more likely.
The deployment of Musudan missiles on North Korea’s east coast last month fueled speculations that the IRBMs may undergo their first confirmed launch.
The missiles, premiered in 2010 but never tested, to public knowledge, have an estimated range of 3,500 to 4,000 kilometers, enough to reach South Korea, Japan, most of China and Russia, and a US military base in Guam.
Tensions flared on the Korean peninsula after North Korea’s third nuclear test in February, which prompted new international sanctions and joint US-South Korean military exercises, to which Pyongyang responded with threats of war, including strikes on the US mainland.
