The timing of this is not a mere coincidence.
From CNN,
WASHINGTON (CNN) — North Korea tested at least two missiles early Wednesday but has not fired the long-range Taepodong-2 rocket Western observers suspect has been readied for launch, U.S. sources told CNN.
Both missiles were launched from a site other than the one intelligence officials have watched for weeks ahead of a possible long-range missile test, a senior State Department official said.
Two senior U.S. State Department officials said Tuesday that fuel trucks had departed the site where the long-range missile sits on a launching pad, indicating that a test might be near.
The removal of the fuel trucks and other auxiliary equipment meant the North Koreans may have finished fueling the missile, said the officials, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the information.
Should the North Koreans have completed the fueling “all they would need to do now is press the button,” one of the sources said.
But both officials said no hard evidence points to a launch coming soon.
“It’s the Fourth of July, and they know we are watching and they like to play with us,” said one official, who has followed the North Korean program for years.
Update: A second missile has been fired!!! Two missiles have been fired according to Norad! CNN thinks the second missile was also short-range.
This is serious business, folks….
**Update**: I’m seeing reports so far that it may not have been the same missile they were preparing to test, and that it was more likely to have been a non-intercontinental missile (meaning, it doesn’t have the range to hit the United States). Also being reported that it has fallen into the Sea of Japan (I’m taking that to mean they didn’t fire it over Japan as they did once before).
UPDATE: (Thanks, Jay!)
CNN - North Korea test-fires at least three missiles, one of them a long-range weapon that the U.S. has been monitoring, U.S. sources say.
Technorati: North Korea / Missle Launch