Anchor: North Korea appears to have lifted its highest combat alert issued in late March and pulled out two intermediate-range missiles from its east coast launch site. Both moves follow the end of recent South Korea-U.S. military exercises and come just ahead of the two allies' summit this week in Washington.
Kim In-kyung reports.

Report: A ranking government source said Tuesday that North Korea's supreme command appears to have lifted its highest combat alert around April 30th. Pyongyang had ordered its strategic rocket and long-range artillery units to be combat ready on March 26th in a string of threats that escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The source said North Korea also seems to have moved two Musudan missiles from their launch site on the east coast as part of the alert lift. The Musudan missile has a range of three- to four-thousand kilometers, putting the U.S. military base in Guam within striking distance.

The source said the Musudan missiles appear to have been moved to a different area, adding that Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are closely tracking them.

North Korea had deployed transporter-erector-launchers carrying two Musudan missiles, as well as seven Scud and Nodong missiles to an airport on the east coast in early April. Scud missiles with ranges of three- to five-hundred kilometers put South Korea within striking range while Nodong missiles with ranges of some 13-hundred kilometers can strike Japan.

Citing intelligence sources, U.S. media also reported that North Korea pulled the Musudan missiles from their launch site and put them in a hangar.

CBS News also pointed out that the movement of the missiles away from the launch site coincides with the end of South Korea-U.S.military exercises and comes just a few days before a South Korea-U.S. summit.

However, the report was quick to add that the Musudans are mobile missiles and "the fact that they've left one launch site doesn't mean they can't be moved to another and fired with little or no warning."

Pentagon spokesman George Little wouldn't confirm that the missiles have been moved and only said that what the U.S. has "seen recently is a provocation pause."

Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.