S. Korea closely monitors N. Korea's possible long-range missile

SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office, said Friday that it is closely watching the signs for North Korea's long-range missile launch.

The comments followed a series of media reports that Pyongyang could launch a long-range missile in one week's time at the Dongchang-ri launch site in the country's northwest, citing satellite imagery analyses.

"(The government) is keeping close tabs on (the signs of North Korea's long-range missile launch)," presidential spokesman Jeong Yeon-guk told reporters.

Jeong, however, refused to comment on details of the report briefed at Cheong Wa Dae's National Security Council (NSC).

"It is the principle not to make comments about content related to the NSC," Jeong said, adding that sufficient discussion is under way.

A long-range missile launch, if conducted, would constitute a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions amid international outrage over the North's Jan. 6 nuclear test.

The U.N. Security Council is currently working on a new set of sanctions on Pyongyang, and the U.S. is also working on unilateral sanctions to punish the regime.
(END)