North Korea's ruling party called for the staging of a "high-intensity" action and further long-range rocket launches, state media reported Tuesday, ahead of an expected nuclear test.
The report on a meeting of the Korean Workers' Party politburo made no specific reference to a nuclear detonation, which some analysts are now suggesting may not be as imminent as initially believed.
The politburo session "called for staging an all-out action of high intensity," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
It also stressed the need to continue launching satellites and "powerful long-range rockets," KCNA said.
The statement carried strong echoes of the initial announcement last month by the North's top military body, the National Defence Commission, that it would conduct a "high-level nuclear test" and further rocket launches.
That announcement was seen as signalling an imminent test, with some observers predicting a date that would coincide with the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's birthday on February 16.
Satellite imagery analysis of the North's remote nuclear test site, as well as US and South Korean intelligence reports, all concluded that the North has completed all necessary test preparations.
But doubts were raised after a North Korean state media outlet last week said the United States and South Korea had "jumped to conclusions" that a test was imminent.
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