North Korea has moved into place a long-range rocket for a controversial launch later this month - amid reports it is also planning a nuclear test.
Pyongyang says the Unha-3 rocket, which it plans to launch between 12 and 16 April, will put a satellite into orbit.
But opponents of the move fear it is a disguised long-range missile test.
Meanwhile, South Korean officials say new satellite images suggest the North is preparing to carry out a third nuclear test.
The images show piles of earth and sand at the entrance of a tunnel at the Punggye-ri site, where tests of a nuclear bomb were previously carried out in 2006 and 2009, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports.
"Recent satellite images led us to conclude the North has been secretly digging a new underground tunnel in the nuclear test site... besides two others where the previous tests were conducted," one unnamed official told the AFP news agency.
North Korea has been under close scrutiny by its neighbours and the international community since Kim Jong-un became leader of the secretive state following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in December 2011.
Pyongyang had agreed in February to a partial freeze in nuclear activities and a missile test moratorium in return for US food aid. But the deal was put on hold last month after the North announced its rocket launch plans.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17650344
Pyonyang ping pong
Pyonyang ping pong
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Pyonyang ping pong
More images;
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Pyonyang ping pong
Looks like if anyone thought things might improve after the passing of The Dear Leader, we now have the answer...
Same old same old...
Same old same old...
Re: Pyonyang ping pong
What on earth would compel the North Korean regime to change?
They play these ridiculous games with the "West" and we are stupid enough to play along. The people in power have everything they want, including an ignorant population willing to endure unthinkable sacrifices because they believe all the fear-mongering.
To the extent their actions are a problem, they are ROK's problem, not ours - or anyone else's. Let the Koreans sort it out.
They play these ridiculous games with the "West" and we are stupid enough to play along. The people in power have everything they want, including an ignorant population willing to endure unthinkable sacrifices because they believe all the fear-mongering.
To the extent their actions are a problem, they are ROK's problem, not ours - or anyone else's. Let the Koreans sort it out.