North Korea is preparing to launch a new, long-range rocket, possibly in October, having completed an upgrade at its main satellite launch base, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday.Quoting an unnamed government source, Yonhap cited "credible intelligence" that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un had ordered the launch of a satellite to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the North's ruling Workers' Party on October 10.
"We think (the North) will carry out a provocation around the 70th anniversary," the source said.
The South Korean Defense Ministry declined to confirm or deny the Yonhap report.
"As to the construction of North Korea's long-range missile launching facilities, we've been watching the North's moves very closely," a ministry front man said.
According to the Yonhap source, North Korea has completed work on an extended 67-meter (220-foot) gantry capable of handling a rocket twice the size of the 30-meter Unha-3 rocket launched in December 2012.
The Unha-3 launch was widely condemned overseas as a ballistic missile test and triggered additional UN sanctions.
North Korea, which insisted the launch was purely scientific in nature, responded three months later by conducting its a third nuclear test - the most powerful to date.
North Korea is banned under UN Security Council resolutions from carrying out any launch using ballistic missile technology, although repeated small-range missile tests have gone unpunished.