WASHINGTON Ñ U.S. intelligence has detected increased activity related to Pyongyang's Taepo Dong long-range missile program including the testing of the missile's engine.

As a result, U.S. officials believe North Korea is preparing for a test launch of the missile which, when fully developed, could reach targets in the United States.

The Seoul-based Yonhap news agency quoted a South Korean official on Wednesday as saying that Pyongyang completed several tests of the Taepo Dong missile engine during 2001. The official said Seoul obtained the information from U.S. satellite intelligence data.

In 2001, North Korea conducted three or four Taepo Dong engine tests, the official said. The last reported test took place in mid-December in the town of Taepo Dong in the province of North Hamgyong.

North Korea is currently marketing the Taepo Dong-1 to Egypt, Iran and other states in the region, Middle East Newsline reported.

"Most analysts believe that North Korea probably will test a Taepo Dong-2 this year, unless delayed for political reasons," a Jan. 30 report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said.

"A two-stage Taepo Dong-2 could deliver a several-hundred kilogram payload to Alaska and Hawaii, and a lighter payload to the western half of the United States. A three-stage Taepo Dong-2 could deliver a several-hundred kilogram payload anywhere in the United States."

In 1999, North Korea pledged not to conduct test launches of the Taepo Dong. But both South Korea and U.S. intelligence sources said Pyongyang appears to be preparing to end the moratorium with a missile launch in early 2003.

Over the last two years, North Korea has been closely monitored for testing of its Taepo Dong-2 missile, believed to have a range of 6,000 kilometers.

"North Korea has tested a new engine every year to extend its missile range since it fired a Taepo Dong missile in August 1998," the South Korean official was quoted as saying.

On Wednesday, CIA director George Tenet told the Senate Intelligence Committee that North Korea has not slowed down exports of ballistic missiles and components to the Middle East and South Asia. Tenet listed Egypt, a major U.S. ally in the region, as a major customer of Pyongyang.

"Profits from these sales help Pyongyang to support its missile Ñ and probably other WMD Ñ development programs, and in turn generate new products to offer to its customers Ñ primarily Iran, Libya, Syria and Egypt," Tenet said.

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