SEOUL — The South Korean intelligence reports are ominous: North Korea appears to be preparing to test-launch a ballistic missile with sufficient range to strike Alaska and possibly the West Coast.
A train transporting a large cylindrical object was recently spotted by a U.S. surveillance satellite chugging toward a new launchpad site west of Pyongyang, the capital, a South Korean government source recently told news outlets here.
Allegedly on board was North Korea's most advanced missile, a Taepodong 2, being readied for a potential liftoff within two months.
The test launch would reportedly be aimed in the direction of Japan, but some analysts say the menacing gesture is also directed at one American in particular.
"The missile is pointing at Obama," said Baek Seung-joo, a director at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul. "North Korea thinks that with such gestures they can control U.S. foreign policy."
For months, the secretive state has ratcheted up its rhetoric, threats that have mostly been aimed at the hard-line administration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
The North has vowed to abandon all peace agreements and said it would not respect a disputed sea border with Seoul. It also accused South Korea of preparing to wage war, saying it has adopted an "all-out confrontation posture" against Seoul.
"There is neither a way to improve [relations] nor hope to bring them on track," Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea announced.
Although deciphering the motives of North Korea's often contradictory foreign policy is difficult, analysts consider the moves to be part of a strategy to bring concessions from Seoul and Washington.
Stymied by a widespread famine and a potential new leadership vacuum after longtime leader Kim Jong Il's reported stroke, North Korea may be hoping to persuade South Korea to step up desperately needed financial aid while looking for more straightforward diplomatic signals from the Obama administration.
Since taking office last February, Lee has made it clear that his nation will withhold aid unless Pyongyang becomes more forthright in its dealings with the South.
The reception in Washington has been equally chilly. Administration officials rejected an offer by North Korea to send an emissary to President Obama's inauguration last month.
