N Korea ready for missile test any time as drill approaches

Bloomberg

South Korean military officials are readying for another possible missile launch by Pyongyang as they prepare for a joint military drill with the US on the disputed peninsula this week.
Multiple South Korean media reports citing unidentified military officials on Saturday and Sunday said North Korean missile vehicles “kept appearing and disappearing” from the map and “transporter erector launchers” had been spotted carrying ballistic missiles from near
Pyongyang and North Pyongan province.
A joint military drill between the US and South Korea will be held from Monday through Friday, Yonhap reported on Sunday, citing an unidentified military source who said Pyongyang was ready to fire missiles “any time.”
“Anything could happen especially before China’s party convention on Oct. 18 and during the time between post-drills and Trump’s visits in the region,” said Shin Beomchul, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul. “There is also the possibility for North Korea to test shorter-ranged ballistic missiles, which in the past did not lead to UN sanctions.” Historically, the North had tended
not to provoke directly during the military drills.
North Korea’s state-run media agency KCNA on Saturday criticized the joint military exercise, calling it a “reckless act of war maniacs.” Earlier, the White House said US President Donald Trump will travel to Asia from Nov. 3-14, during which he will visit South Korea and possibly the demilitarized zone that
separates the two Koreas.
As part of this week’s drill, the US has deployed the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to South Korea. The US nuclear-powered submarine Michigan is also likely to take part.
FIGHTER JETS
Separately, US weapons systems including F-35A and F-22 stealth fighter jets, B-1B bombers and RQ-4 surveillance drones, will participate in the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition being held from Tuesday through Friday, although they won’t be armed, according to a Yonhap report.
Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho suggested last month that could
include testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean. He later said
the US had declared war and
his country had the right to shoot down American warplanes flying in international airspace. The comments came shortly after US bombers and fighter jets flew near its eastern coastline.
North Korea on Sept. 15 fired its second missile over Japan in as many months, a rocket that flew far enough to put the US territory of Guam in range. The country has repeatedly threatened to launch a missile near the American territory in the Pacific.

AUSTRALIA WARNED
North Korea also turned its focus on Australia at the weekend, warning the US ally of the risks of siding with Trump. Joining the US in seeking to increase pressure on North Korea would mean Australia “will not be able to avoid a disaster,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Saturday cited a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
“Australia is showing dangerous moves of zealously joining the frenzied political and military provocations of the US,” the spokesman was quoted as saying, citing Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s visit last week to South Korea.