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) ||||| 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 reiterated on Saturday 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. 
 
 North Korea, in a sign of a possible end to weeks of heightened hostility on the Korean peninsula, offered the United States and South Korea a list of conditions on Thursday for talks, including the lifting of U.N. sanctions. 
 
 But the United States said it was awaiting "clear signals" that North Korea would halt its nuclear weapons activities. 
 
 "The U.S. should not think about the denuclearization on the peninsula before the world is denuclearized," the North's state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary. 
 
 "There may be talks between the DPRK and the U.S. for disarmament but no talks on denuclearization," it said. North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). 
 
 North Korea signed a denuclearization-for-aid deal in 2005 but later backed out of that pact. It now says its nuclear arms are a "treasured sword" that it will never give up. 
 
 It conducted its third nuclear test in February. 
 
 The test triggered 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. 
 
 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited China, South Korea and Japan this month for talks on North Korea and stressed his interest in a diplomatic solution to the tension on the peninsula. 
 
 He later told a U.S. Senate hearing that North Korea's list of conditions was "at least a beginning gambit", but added that it was "not acceptable, obviously, and we have to go further". 
 
 The Rodong Sinmun said U.S. talk of dialogue was "nothing but rhetoric". 
 
 North Korea has a long record of making threats to secure concessions from the United States and South Korea, only to repeat the process later. Both the United States and the South have said in recent days that the cycle must cease. 
 
 (Reporting by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) ||||| On Thursday, Chief of National Security Kim Jang-soo told lawmakers that North Korea has shown no signs of preparing or is not even capable of conducting a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula. But he said the communist nation can still carry out localized provocations at any time, including launches of shorter-range missiles, such as Scuds with a range of 300-500 km or KN-02s with a range of 120-160 km.
– 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.