New satellite images of North Korea rocket preparations emerge Any launch would be the end of a Feb 29 accord between North Korea and the United States that would ship US food aid to the impoverished North in exchange for a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests, as well as a suspension of nuclear work at its main Yongbyon nuclear facility. The US says plans to provide food to the North Korea are already on hold. The launch would be the fourth of its kind since 1998, when Pyongyang sent a long-range rocket hurtling over Japan. The last rocket launch, in 2009, led to UN condemnation and the North walking away from six-nation nuclear disarmament talks; weeks later, it carried out its second nuclear test. The planned launch could demonstrate if North Korea is closer to perfecting a multistage rocket that could hit the United States. Analysts fear a new launch could spur a chain of events that would mirror 2009 and send tensions soaring again on the Korean peninsula. A year after the last test, 50 South Koreans were killed in attacks blamed on North Korea. The new satellite images show what are likely empty fuel and oxidiser tanks in previously empty, fenced-in areas, the institute's analysis says. "The tanks were apparently dumped in these locations after their contents were transferred to buildings that will directly fuel the first stage of the Unha-3" rocket, according to the analysis. The large number of apparently empty tanks indicates that the transfer process may have been close to completion. The announcement of the latest launch came just two weeks after the Feb 29 US-North Korean nuclear-freeze-for-aid agreement, which had buoyed hopes for improved relations between the wartime enemies under new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He came to power after his father Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack in December. North Korea's ruling party announced Monday that it will hold an important political conference April 11 in Pyongyang. Kim Jong-un is expected to gain new titles at the conference, which comes shortly before the planned launch. The North's new Tongchang-ri rocket launch site is about 35 miles from the Chinese border city of Dandong. North Korea has said that the southerly flight path from the site was chosen so debris wouldn't hurt neighbouring countries. But there has been widespread fear over falling debris from the rocket. Japan's defense minister has ordered missile units to intercept the rocket if it or its fragments threaten to hit Japan. Seoul has also warned it might shoot down any parts of the North Korean rocket heading for South Korean territory. South Korean defence officials have said the main body of the three-stage rocket was transported to a building in Tongchang-ri.