North Korea eyes disputed sea border for missiles: reports

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea could be looking to stir up tension by firing short-range missiles at a disputed maritime border with the South, while it may also launch its longest-range missile to check design improvements, reports said on Friday.

North Korea has been preparing to launch its longest-range Taepodong-2 missile in the direction of Japan, reports said this week in a move analysts said is aimed at pressuring the South to drop its hard-line stand toward its neighbor and at grabbing the attention of new U.S. President Barack Obama.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton makes her first trip abroad since taking office with a tour starting in mid-February to Asia, where regional security will be high on the agenda, the State Department said on Thursday.

South Korean security officials believe the most likely scenario for North Korean saber-rattling would be for the prickly state to fire short-range missiles into or over a Yellow Sea maritime border called the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the daily Chosun Ilbo said, citing government sources.

The NLL was unilaterally set by U.N.-led forces at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War and the North calls the border illegal. The area off the west coast has been the scene of deadly naval clashes between the two Koreas in 1999 and 2002.

"We can prepare ourselves when signs of provocation like the firing of long-range Taepodong-2 missiles are monitored in advance. But it's difficult to cope with the abrupt firing of short-range missiles or a North Korean vessel firing missiles near the NLL," the paper quoted a security source as saying.

The Taepodong-2, which is designed to have a range that could hit Alaska but not the continental 48 states, only managed a few seconds of controlled flight in its last test launch in 2006 before failing in less than a minute.

"North Korea is thought to have improved the Taepodong-2," the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper quoted a South Korean government source as saying. Improvements include using lighter weight materials that could extend its range.

The missile, an estimated 36 meters (118 feet) tall, takes weeks to prepare for launch and those operations can be monitored by U.S. spy satellites.

Another failed launch would be a major embarrassment for Pyongyang which has little beyond military threats to win concessions from the outside world.

North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in October 2006, does not yet have the technology to miniaturize a nuclear weapon to mount as a warhead. The North was hit by U.N. sanctions after its 2006 missile test and subsequent nuclear test.

(Additional reporting by Kim Junghyun; Editing by Bill Tarrant)