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SEOUL (Reuters) - Clouds and storms closed in on Tuesday over a site where North Korea may be preparing to test a long-range missile, potentially delaying a flight that regional powers have warned the reclusive state not to launch. A commercial satellite photo of North Korea's Nodong missile launch site taken on by a Digital Globe satellite and annotated and released by analysts at GlobalSecurity.org on May 24, 2006. The United States and Japan warned North Korea on Monday against a missile launch that experts say could reach as far as Alaska and threatened harsh action if the test flight...

<p>A major worry among U.S. officials is that the upcoming test, which would be the third in recent weeks, will be a second flight test of its new long-range Taepo-Dong 2 ballistic missile, which was flight-tested for the first time in August 1998.</p>

State Dept: US Will Not Give in to Blackmail on North Korean NukesDavid GollustWashington23 Dec 2002, 22:31 UTC Listen to David Gollust's report (RealAudio)  Gollust report - Download 462k (RealAudio)   The Bush administration has launched wide-ranging diplomatic contacts on the latest nuclear crisis with North Korea. U.S. officials say they want a peaceful resolution of the situation, but will offer no inducements for North Korea to roll back its announced moves to reopen the reactor complex at Yongbyon. Secretary of State Colin Powell is leading the diplomatic effort, with telephone contacts with his counterparts from South Korea, China, Japan,...

North Korea Breaks Seals on 8,000 Spent Nuclear Fuel Rods DECEMBER 23, 2002 22:32 (Dong-a Ilbo News, Seoul, S.Korea) North Korea has removed the seals and surveillance cameras installed to monitor the storage facilities containing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods that had been closely watched by the IAEA. A couple of days ago, the North also eliminated all IAEA`s inspection devices set up at the nuclear reactor in Yongbyon. What makes the latest move of North more serious is the fact that the fuel rods have nothing do to with generation of electricity and can produce plutonium, which in...