According to the DPRK’s Central News Agency, the country’s military says it’s only a matter of time before war breaks out. Meanwhile, South Korea and Japan are now on high alert. They are keeping close eyes on the DPRK’s military, especially its missile deployment.

The DPRK has moved a missile with a considerable range to its east coast. Media in South Korea and Japan quickly spread the report. However, there are conflicting accounts about the missile’s range.

Japan’s Asahi Shimbun said the missile could be a long-range KN-08 missile. If operable, it could hit the US mainland. South Korea’s defense minister Kim Kwan-Jin dismissed the reports.

Kim Kwan-Jin said, "The missile dispatched by the DPRK doesn’t look like the KN-08, but it can travel a considerable range."

That could refer to a mobile DPRK missile known as the Musudan. It’s believed to have a range of 3,000 kilometers. That would make Japan and South Korea potential targets, along with US military facilities on the Guam Island. But there are doubts about the missile’s accuracy.

Andrea Berger, research fellow of Royal United Services Institute, said, "At the present time we don’t feel that North Korea has the ability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead and put it atop a ballistic missile to send to Washington, Guam or Hawaii. Its missiles, we feel, don’t have the accuracy or the range to accomplish the strikes that it has threatened to carry out. "

Reports of the missile movement came hours after the DPRK’s military warned it had been authorized to attack the US using "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear weapons.

Analysts say the threats are probably meant to win softer response from South Korea and diplomatic talks with Washington.

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