(2nd LD) N. Korea's rocket fueling imminent 
 
 SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is expected to begin fueling a long-range rocket soon, the final step toward its launch set for as early as this week, a South Korean official said Monday."North Korea has only fueling remaining after completing the installation of three stages of boosters on a launch pad," the official said on condition of anonymity. "Fueling is expected to begin soon, considering it usually takes two to three days."Pyongyang says the Unha-3 rocket will blast off between April 12-13 to put what it claims is a satellite into orbit. South Korea, the United States and other regional powers view the claim as a pretext to disguise a banned missile test.In an attempt to bolster its case, the North has invited foreign journalists and experts to observe the launch. Reporters from more than 20 media firms have arrived in the communist nation, according to state media.Foreign journalists and space experts have toured the launching station in the country's northwestern area of Cholsan, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency reported Monday.North Korea told them Sunday that the satellite will gather necessary information on the distribution of forestry resources in the country, severity of natural disasters, crop estimates, weather forecasts and survey of natural resources during polar orbit."Seeing the satellite and carrier rocket ... they had deep understanding of the fact that the satellite launch is aimed at space development and use for peaceful purposes from A to Z," the Korean Central News Agency said in an English-language dispatch.The dispatch also claimed the foreign journalists and space experts "admired to learn that the North's space science and technology has entered the practical stage of satellite."It also said the satellite launch "is an inspiring deed and an event of historic significance of the nation."The rocket launch is timed to celebrate the April 15 centennial of the birth of North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.Weather is expected to be a key factor in North Korea's decision on when to launch the rocket. Considering that the regime has said it will accept foreign journalists until Thursday, a launch could take place on Friday or Saturday.Further adding to tensions, North Korea is also believed to be readying for a nuclear test.Satellite images show the communist nation digging a new tunnel underground in the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the country's northeast, where it conducted two previous nuclear tests, first in 2006 and then in 2009, according to South Korean officials.The construction is believed to be in its final stage, the official said.Commercial satellite imagery showed piles of earth and sand at the entrance of a tunnel in the Punggye-ri site. The soil is believed to have been brought to the site to plug the tunnel, one of final steps before carrying out a nuclear test blast.South Korean officials said they cannot rule out the possibility of North Korea setting off a nuclear device built with highly enriched uranium this time, unlike two previous tests where plutonium was used.The North's nuclear and missile programs have long been a regional security concern. The country is believed to have advanced ballistic missile technology, though it is still not clear whether it has mastered the technology to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.(END) ||||| North Korean space officials said Tuesday all assembly and preparations for this week's planned satellite launch have been completed and denied it is a cover for a missile test. 
 
 A North Korean man adjusts flags put up ahead of the Workers' Party Conference in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday, April 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) (Associated Press) 
 
 North Korean soldiers stands in front of the country's Unha-3 rocket, slated for liftoff between April 12-16, at Sohae Satellite Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea on Sunday April 8, 2012. North Korean... (Associated Press) 
 
 This March 31, 2012 satellite image released by GeoEye Monday April 9, 2012 shows continued activity at the launch pad of the Tongchang-ri Launch Facility on North Korea's western coast. The image shows... (Associated Press) 
 
 CORRECTS SPELLING TO NORTH KOREAN STYLE - Ryu Kum Chol, deputy director of space exploration in the Department of Space Technology of North Korea speaks to the international media in Pyongyang, North... (Associated Press) 
 
 Space officials told reporters at a news conference in Pyongyang that the launch of the three-stage rocket is on target to take place between Thursday and Monday as part of centennial birthday commemorations for late President Kim Il Sung, the country's founder. 
 
 The Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite, equipped with a camera designed to capture images of North Korea's terrain and send back data about weather conditions, was being mounted on the rocket Tuesday, said Ryu Kum Chol, deputy director of the Space Development Department of the Korean Committee for Space Technology. 
 
 "All the assembly and preparations of the satellite launch are done," including fueling of the rocket, he said. 
 
 The United States, Britain, Japan and others have urged North Korea to cancel the launch, saying it would be considered a violation of U.N. resolutions prohibiting the country from nuclear and ballistic missile activity. 
 
 Experts say the Unha-3 carrier is the same type of rocket that would be used to launch a long-range missile aimed at the U.S. and other targets. North Korea has tested two atomic devices but is not believed to have mastered the technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile. 
 
 Ryu acknowledged similarities between the rockets used for launching a satellite and a ballistic missile. However, he noted that solid fuel is used to launch ballistic missiles, while the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite will be sent using liquid fuel. 
 
 Also, in order to be a success, a ballistic missile would require a large payload, he said. 
 
 "Our satellite weighs 100 kilograms. For a weapon, a 100-kilogram payload wouldn't be very effective," he said, dismissing assertions that the launch is a cover for developing missile technology as "nonsense." 
 
 Ryu also said a missile launch would require more sophisticated technology, and would not take place from a fixed, openly visible station. 
 
 "No country in the world would want to launch a ballistic missile from such an open site," he said. 
 
 Ryu said he could not provide any answers to questions about whether North Korea is planning a third nuclear test. 
 
 None of Ryu's points rule out the use of the launch, with or without a satellite on top, as a test for developing missiles. The United States and its allies suggest that even though the North may launch a satellite this time, the rocket technologies involved can easily be applied to missiles. 
 
 Effective long-range ballistic missiles do tend to use solid fuel, particularly when launched from mobile units, but that does not rule out using a liquid-fuel launch vehicle for a ballistic missile. The first ballistic missiles, Nazi Germany's V-2, were liquid fuel and several countries, including Iran, still use liquids. 
 
 This week's satellite launch from a new facility in the hamlet of Tongchang-ri on North Korea's west coast would be the country's third attempt since 1998. Two previous rockets, also named Unha, were mounted with experimental communications satellites and sent from the east coast. 
 
 North Korean officials say the 2009 satellite reached orbit, citing Russian confirmation, but the U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command said Kwangmyongsong-2 did not make it into space. 
 
 The third rendition will be North Korea's first working satellite, and is designed to transmit data to the Agriculture and Transportation ministries, said Paek Chang Ho, head of the North's Central Satellite Control Center. 
 
 However, Brian Weeden, a technical adviser at Secure World Foundation and a former Air Force officer at the U.S. Space Command, said he doubted the launch would succeed in sending a satellite into orbit. He speculated that the end goal is to test and develop their ballistic missile program. 
 
 The planned launch is a highlight of two weeks of celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung's April 15th birthday and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army. 
 
 North Korea also is preparing to formally install his grandson Kim Jong Un as North Korea's leader with two major political gatherings: a Workers' Party conference on Wednesday and a Supreme People's Assembly session Friday. 
 
 "As preparations at the pad near completion, Pyongyang is stepping up a public relations campaign intended to project the image of a strong, powerful nation at home and abroad that will culminate in the launch itself," said Joel Wit, visiting fellow at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. 
 
 On Sunday, The Associated Press was among some 20 news organizations taken to the launch site in North Phyongan province, northwest of Pyongyang, to see preparations. All three stages of the 30-meter-tall Unha-3 rocket were visibly in position at the launch pad, and the 3-foot-tall (1-meter-tall) satellite ready for installation. 
 
 Kwangmyongsong means "bright, shining star," while Unha means "galaxy." 
 
 The United States says the launch would jeopardize a U.S.-North Korean agreement that called for providing Pyongyang with much-needed food aid in exchange for a freeze on nuclear activity, including a moratorium on long-range missile tests. 
 
 The U.N. Security Council, including China, condemned the last launch in April 2009. In protest, North Korea walked away from nuclear disarmament negotiations and conducted an atomic test weeks later that drew tightened U.N. sanctions. 
 
 On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich was quoted by the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency as saying that Moscow views Pyongyang's plans as "an example of ignoring decisions of the U.N. Security Council." 
 
 North Korean officials said the U.N. space treaty guarantees every nation's right to develop its space program. 
 
 "We do not recognize any U.N. Security Council resolution that violates our national sovereignty," Ryu said. "I believe that the right to have a satellite is the universal right of every nation on this planet." 
 
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 Associated Press writer Foster Klug contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow AP's Korea bureau chief for Pyongyang and Seoul at twitter.com/newsjean. ||||| Defying international concerns, North Korea fired a long-range rocket early Friday, but it appears to have fallen into the sea, splintering moments after takeoff, South Korean and U.S. officials said. 
 
 North Korean men wait at the press center in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 13, 2012. North Korea fired a long-range rocket early Friday, South Korean defense officials said, defying international... (Associated Press) 
 
 A North Korean press center worker, second right, tries to appease foreign journalists desperate for news on the launch at the press center in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 13, 2012. North Korea... (Associated Press) 
 
 North Korean technicians work at the press center in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 13, 2012. North Korea fired a long-range rocket early Friday, South Korean defense officials said, defying international... (Associated Press) 
 
 Foreign journalists wait for news at the press center in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 13, 2012. North Korea fired a long-range rocket early Friday, South Korean defense officials said, defying... (Associated Press) 
 
 Foreign journalists desperate for news try to get comments from North Korean press center workers, right, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 13, 2012. North Korea fired a long-range rocket early... (Associated Press) 
 
 Cameramen stand by to cover the PAC-3 surface to air missile units at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, April 13, 2012. North Korea fired a long-range rocket early Friday, South Korean defense... (Associated Press) 
 
 The liftoff took place at 7:39 a.m. (2139 GMT Thursday) from the west coast launch pad in the hamlet of Tongchang-ri, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said, citing South Korean and U.S. intelligence. 
 
 The two countries as well as many others had warned against the launch, calling it a provocation and a cover to test missile technology. North Korea had insisted it would not back down, and said the rocket would only carry a satellite, touting it as a major technological achievement to mark the 100th birth anniversary of the country's founder, Kim Il Sung, on Sunday. 
 
 Still, if the U.S. report of a failure, backed by Japan and South Korea, is true, it would be a major embarrassment for Pyongyang, which has invited dozens of international journalists to observe the rocket launch and other celebrations. 
 
 It has staked its pride on the satellite launch seen as a show of strength amid persistent economic hardship as Kim Il Sung's grandson, Kim Jong Un, solidifies power following the death of his father, longtime leader Kim Jong Il, four months ago. 
 
 "It blows a big hole in the birthday party," said Victor Cha, former director for Asia policy in the U.S. National Security Council, contacted in Washington. "It's terribly embarrassing for the North." 
 
 He said the next step would be to watch whether North Korea would conduct a nuclear test, as has been speculated by the South Korean intelligence community. North Korea is reportedly making preparations for such a test soon. 
 
 "We have to watch very carefully what they are doing now at the nuclear test site and how they explain this with all those foreign journalists in the country," Cha said. 
 
 In Pyongyang, there was no word about a launch, and at the time, state television was broadcasting video of popular folk tunes. North Korean officials said they would make an announcement about the launch "soon." 
 
 It had earlier said that the rocket would be fired any day between April 12 and April 16. The daily window was supposed to be 9 a.m. to noon. 
 
 South Korea's Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said the rocket launch was confirmed a "failure." He provided no details. 
 
 But earlier, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters the rocket splintered into pieces moments after takeoff. 
 
 In Washington, a U.S. official also said the launch appeared to have failed. The official offered no further details and would not discuss the source of the U.S. information. 
 
 "We suspect the North Korean missile has fallen as it divided into pieces minutes after liftoff," Tokyo, which was prepared to shoot down any rocket flying over its territory, also confirmed a launch from North Korea. 
 
 "We have confirmed that a certain flying object has been launched and fell after flying for just over a minute," Japan's Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka said. He said there was no impact on Japanese territory. 
 
 North Korean space officials said the Unha-3 rocket is meant to send a satellite into orbit to study crops and weather patterns _ its third bid to launch a satellite since 1998. Officials took foreign journalists to the west coast site to see the rocket and the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite Sunday in a bid to show its transparency amid accusations of defiance. 
 
 "For all their advanced technology, these rockets are fairly fragile things," said Brian Weeden, a technical adviser at Secure World Foundation who is a former Air Force officer at the U.S. Space Command. "You're looking at a metal cylinder that has fairly thin walls that contains a lot of high pressure liquid." 
 
 Weeden said the launch appeared to be a failure of both space and missile objectives. 
 
 "The earlier it breaks up, the less data you've collected, so the less useful that test is likely to be," he said. "It's very likely that the U.S. and its allies probably gathered more info about this test than the North Koreans have." 
 
 He said U.S. and other nations had been poised to keep close watch on the launch to gather intelligence about the state of North Korea's rocket program. 
 
 The United States, Britain, Japan and others have called such a launch a violation of U.N. resolutions prohibiting North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity. 
 
 Experts say the Unha-3 carrier is the same type of rocket that would be used to launch a long-range missile aimed at the U.S. and other targets. North Korea has tested two atomic devices but is not believed to have mastered the technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile. 
 
 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking for the Group of Eight nations after their foreign ministers met in Washington, said Thursday that all the members of the bloc agreed to be prepared to take further action against North Korea in the Security Council if the launch went ahead. 
 
 "Pyongyang has a clear choice: It can pursue peace and reap the benefits of closer ties with the international community, including the United States; or it can continue to face pressure and isolation," Clinton said. 
 
 South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was convening an emergency security meeting, officials said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Foster Klug contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea and Mari Yamaguchi and Malcolm Foster contributed from Tokyo.
– North Korea looks to be preparing a third nuclear test, the AP reports: New photos show work on an underground tunnel—at the site of two earlier such tests—is nearly finished, say South Korean intelligence officials. "North Korea is covertly preparing for a third nuclear test, which would be another grave provocation," says the intelligence report, noting that dirt piled at the tunnel's opening indicates there's a "high possibility" Pyongyang could launch the test—soon. That's because plugging tunnels with dirt was the final step taken during its two previous nuclear tests at the Punggye-ri site, in 2006 and 2009. Meanwhile, the North is almost ready to start fueling a long-range rocket; it will be launched April 12-13, according to Pyongyang. While officials there say the rocket's goal is to send a satellite into space, the US fears the country is preparing a prohibited missile launch. The North has aimed to reassure journalists by inviting them to view preparations, Yonhap News reports. "If you look for yourselves with your own eyes, then you can judge whether it's a ballistic missile, or whether it's a launch vehicle to put a satellite into orbit," the launch site's boss told the group of the 100-foot-long red- and blue-painted rocket, according to CNN journalists who were present.