orth Korea has deployed an arsenal of missiles to an island off the country's west coast in preparation for more test firing, a South Korean newspaper reported Thursday.
A U.S. spy satellite detected signs that the North had positioned about 10 missiles near Korea's disputed western sea border, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said, quoting an unidentified South Korean government official.
On Tuesday, North Korea reportedly fired two short-range missiles into the waters off the west coast. South Korean and U.S. officials declined to confirm the reports, but U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday that the U.S. "would advise against" any short-range missile firing by the North.
South Korean intelligence officials believe the North could fire more than five additional missiles — KN-01 land-to-ship and Styx ship-to-ship missiles — in coming days, Chosun Ilbo said.
North Korea has issued a no-sail warning banning ships from the area until next Wednesday, it added. South Korea's Defense Ministry, the National Intelligence Service and the U.S. military command in Seoul said they could not confirm the Chosun Ilbo report.
North Korea routinely test-fires short-range missiles as part of its military training but this week's movements come at a time of increasing concern about security on the peninsula and speculation about the health of the North's authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Il.
After agreeing to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for energy aid and other concessions, the North stopped disabling its main nuclear complex in August over objections to U.S. demands for verification of its atomic program.
A U.S. nuclear envoy traveled to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, last week to try resolving the dispute amid signs Pyongyang was reassembling its Yongbyon plant, but it was unclear whether the talks produced any major breakthroughs.
"The reported missile launches appear to have a multiple purpose: to increase pressure on the U.S. in nuclear negotiations and to show to the outside world that their military is still in good shape, despite concerns about leader Kim's health," Yoo Ho-yeol, a North Korea expert at Korea University in Seoul, said Thursday.
North Korea, which carried out an underground nuclear test in 2006, is believed to have enough plutonium to produce about half a dozen bombs. In 2006, the North also defiantly fired seven missiles off its east coast — including one capable of reaching the U.S.
The North is not believed to have the technology needed to fit a nuclear weapon on a rocket. But Gen. Kim Tae-young, head of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said the North is trying to develop a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on a missile.
The missile launches come amid close scrutiny of 66-year-old leader Kim Jong Il's whereabouts. Kim — who reportedly suffered a stroke — had not been seen since mid-August when North Korean state media reported Saturday that he watched a football game.
South Korean intelligence officials said they have been unable to verify Kim's reported appearance. North Korea denies he is ill.
After Kim missed a key 60th anniversary parade last month, observers are watching to see if the leader publicly marks the 63rd anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party on Friday.
North Korea expert Baek Seung-joo of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul doubted Kim would appear, noting that state media has already reported on one appearance in the past week.
He noted that Kim tends to dramatize his public appearances in times of tension, characterizing Kim's approach as "cinema politics."
U.S. intelligence has detected no sign of North Korean military activity that might suggest that Kim has lost his grip on power, Army Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of U.S. troops in South Korea, said in Washington on Wednesday. The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea.
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Associated Press military writer Robert Burns contributed to this report from Washington.