Washington  - North Korea may be preparing for another missile test, the CNN news channel reported late Tuesday, citing an unnamed senior US official.

Photographs taken by a US spy satellite showed activity at a site used previously for testing Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missiles, the Pentagon official was quoted as saying.

While there was so far no evidence of a missile being transported to the site by the communist country, the preparations were similar to those preceding a test in 2006.

Last week, South Korean media reported about test preparations, saying intelligence services in the US and South Korea had observed the transport of a long, cylindrical object, believed to be a Taepodong-2 missile.

The launch of such a missile, which has a range of 6,700 kilometres, would lead to another rise tensions on the Korean peninsula and be viewed as a provocation by the US.

The US military believes, that, if perfected, Taepodong-2 missile could carry a nuclear warhead into US territory. (dpa)