Military officials applaud together with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, during the Unhasu concert in Pyongyang, in this picture released by North Korea's KCNA news agency April 16, 2013. 
 
 SEOUL | 
 
 SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has moved two short-range missile launchers to its east coast, apparently indicating it is pushing ahead with preparations for a test launch, a South Korean news agency reported on Sunday. 
 
 South Korea and its allies have been expecting some sort of North Korean missile launch during weeks of heightened hostility on the Korean peninsula. 
 
 An unidentified South Korean military source told the South's Yonhap news agency that satellite imagery showed that North Korean forces had moved two mobile missile launchers for short-range Scud missiles to South Hamgyeong province. 
 
 "The military is closely watching the North's latest preparations for a missile launch," the source said. 
 
 The North moved two mid-range Musudan missiles in early April and placed seven mobile launchers in the same area, Yonhap said. A North Korean show of force could be staged to coincide with the anniversary of the founding of its army on April 25. 
 
 A South Korean Defense Ministry official said he could not confirm the news report and said there had been no sign of unusual activity in North Korea. North Korea fairly regularly test-fires short-range missiles in the sea off its east coast. 
 
 North Korea stepped up its defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions in December when it launched a rocket that it said had put a scientific satellite into orbit. Critics said the launch was aimed at developing technology to deliver a nuclear warhead mounted on a long-range missile. 
 
 The North followed that in February with its third test of a nuclear weapon. That brought new U.N. sanctions which in turn led to a dramatic intensification of North Korea's threats of nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States. 
 
 The tension has eased over recent days with the North at least talking about dialogue in response to calls for talks from both the United States and South Korea. 
 
 On Saturday, North Korea reiterated that it would not give up its nuclear weapons, rejecting a U.S. condition for talks although it said it was willing to discuss disarmament. 
 
 (Editing by Robert Birsel and Sanjeev Miglani) ||||| North Korea fired three short-range guided missiles into its eastern waters on Saturday, a South Korean official said. It routinely tests such missiles, but the latest launches came during a period of tentative diplomacy aimed at easing tensions. 
 
 South Koreans watch TV news showing a footage of North Korean missiles on a military parade, at a Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 18, 2013. North Korea fired three short-range... (Associated Press) 
 
 A South Korean man watches a TV news reporting missile launch conducted by North Korea, at a Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 18, 2013. North Korea fired three short-range guided... (Associated Press) 
 
 The North fired two missiles Saturday morning and another in the afternoon, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said by phone. He said the North's intent was unclear. His ministry said it is watching North Korea carefully in case it conducts a provocation against South Korea. 
 
 In March, North Korea launched what appeared to be two KN-02 missiles off its east coast. Experts believe the country is trying to improve the range and accuracy of its arsenal. 
 
 North Korea recently withdrew two mid-range "Musudan" missiles believed to be capable of reaching Guam after moving them to its east coast earlier this year, U.S. officials said. The North is banned from testing ballistic missiles under U.N. Security Council resolutions. 
 
 Earlier this year, North Korea threatened nuclear strikes on Seoul and Washington because of annual U.S.-South Korean military drills and U.N. sanctions imposed over its third nuclear test in February. The drills ended late last month. This past month, the U.S. and South Korea ended another round of naval drills involving a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier off the east coast. North Korea calls such drills preparation to invade the North. 
 
 Analysts say the recent North Korean threats were partly an attempt to push Washington to agree to disarmament-for-aid talks. 
 
 This past week, Glyn Davies, the top U.S. envoy on North Korea, ended trips to South Korea, China and Japan. On Friday, an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned from North Korea but didn't immediately give details of his talks with officials there. 
 
 On Monday, North Korean state media showed that the country's hard-line defense minister had been replaced by a little-known army general. Outside analysts said it was part of leader Kim Jong Un's efforts to tighten his grip on the powerful military after his father Kim Jong Il died in December 2011. 
 
 The United States and Japan are participants in six-nation nuclear disarmament talks along with the Koreas, Russia and Japan. North Korea walked out of the talks in 2009 after the United Nations condemned it for a long-range rocket launch. 
 
 North Korea possesses an array of missiles. U.S. and South Korean officials do not believe the North's claim that it has developed nuclear warheads small enough to place on a missile. Last week in Washington, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and President Barack Obama warned North Korea against further nuclear provocations. 
 
 Tension between the two Koreas remains high after both sides pulled out their workers from a jointly run factory complex earlier this year. The countries remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce instead of a peace treaty. ||||| A TV screen shows a satellite image of North Korea's Sohae launch site, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Kore, Tuesday, July 24, 2018. A U.S. research group says North... (Associated Press) 
 
 A TV screen shows a satellite image of North Korea's Sohae launch site, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Kore, Tuesday, July 24, 2018. A U.S. research group says North Korea has started dismantling key facilities at its main satellite launch site in what appears to... (Associated Press) 
 
 SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A U.S. research group says North Korea has started dismantling key facilities at its main satellite launch site in what appears to be a step toward fulfilling a commitment made by leader Kim Jong Un at his summit with President Donald Trump in June. 
 
 An official from South Korea's presidential office on Tuesday said Seoul has also been detecting dismantlement activities at North Korea's Sohae launch site but did not specify what the North was supposedly taking apart. 
 
 While the official said such moves could have a "positive effect" on the North's denuclearization, analysts say such steps wouldn't reduce North Korea's military capabilities unless the country dismantles the whole site. 
 
 The North Korea-focused 38 North website said commercial satellite images between July 20 and 22 indicate the North began dismantling key facilities at the site. The facilities being razed or disassembled include a rocket engine test stand used to develop liquid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles and space-launch vehicles and a rail-mounted processing building where space launch vehicles were assembled before being moved to the launch pad, according to the report. 
 
 "Since these facilities are believed to have played an important role in the development of technologies for the North's intercontinental ballistic missile program, these efforts represent a significant confidence building measure on the part of North Korea," analyst Joseph Bermudez wrote in the report. 
 
 Lee Choon Geun, a missile expert at South Korea's Science and Technology Policy Institute, said the North is giving up little in dismantling the rocket engine test site when it seems clear the country is satisfied with the current design of long-range weapons. However, Lee said that the supposed move to dismantle the rail-mounted processing building was more notable as it potentially indicated to broader dismantlement activities at the site. 
 
 "If North Korea goes further and dismantle the entire Sohae site, that would meaningfully reduce the country's long-range missile capability by eliminating a facility where it could fire multiple ICBMs in succession," Lee said. "The North can also fire ICBMs from transporter erector launchers, but their technology with these vehicles isn't stable." 
 
 After his summit with Kim in Singapore on June 12, Trump said he was told by Kim that the North was "already destroying a major missile engine testing site" without identifying which site. The leaders concluded their summit by declaring their vague aspirational goal of moving toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, but there's lingering doubts on whether Kim would ever agree to fully give up the nuclear weapons he may see as a stronger guarantee of his survival that whatever security assurances the United States can provide. 
 
 Kim in late 2017 declared his nuclear weapons and missile program was complete, following a torrent of nuclear and missile tests that include the detonation of a purported thermonuclear warhead and flight tests of three developmental ICBMs potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. North Korea in May invited foreign media to observe a destruction of tunnels at its nuclear testing ground, weeks after Kim declared the site's mission as finished. However, the North did not open the process to outside experts capable of validating what had been destroyed. 
 
 The South Korean presidential official, who didn't want to be named, citing office rules, said the supposed dismantlement activities shows the North is moving gradually. 
 
 "We need further analysis to figure out why the North didn't turn the dismantlement activities into an event and whether the country is trying to control the speed of the process to maintain a pace it wants," he said.
– North Korea continues to apparently move forward with plans for a test missile launch, moving two more missile launchers to its east coast since April 16, South Korea's Yonhap News reports. They are thought to be for shorter-range Scud missiles. South Korean military officials think North Korea might be looking to do the launch, or present some other show of force, on the Thursday anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army. Earlier this month, the North moved two mid-range missile launchers and seven mobile launchers, Reuters notes. And yesterday, Reuters reports, Pyongyang reaffirmed its determination not to give up its nuclear weapons, a US condition for talks, but did say it would consider discussing disarmament if a list of demands (like the lifting of UN sanctions) were met. "There may be talks between the DPRK and the US for disarmament but no talks on denuclearization," said the commentary in a state-run newspaper.