Heat on Beijing over Korean missile

North Korea was poised to send a rocket into space on Thursday, as the nation's young leader ascended to new top political posts strengthening his hold on power.

There was no word on Thursday morning on the timing of the controversial rocket launch, which the North has said will take place sometime between Thursday and Monday.In 2009, a similar launch from an east coast site took place on the second day of a five-day window.

The launch, which the North says is for peaceful purposes, has raised international concern - and raised tensions in the region.In the South Korean town of Paju, divided from North Korea by the Imjin river, tourists from Japan and Malaysia were peering through binoculars at the mysterious communist nation.

Kaladevy Murigan, a 35-year-old Malaysian tourist, said Pyongyang should be given the benefit of the doubt."Maybe they are launching satellite for scientific reasons," she said.

"It doesn't have to be a nuclear thing. Maybe we (should) wait and see what they are going to do."

Meanwhile, in the capital Seoul, a spokesman for the country's defence ministry said that it continues to pay close attention to North Korea's possible launch of a long-range rocket, and that South Korea is well prepared to trace it when it actually launches.

"We are closely chasing the situation at the Dongchangri and Poonggyeri region of North Korea," said the spokesman.

"We also have the system all set up to trace the long-range missile if North Korea launches it."Similarly, Japan was on alert on Thursday to see whether North Korea would launch the rocket over the islands of Okinawa.

City officials gathered with Self Defence personnel at the Okinawa prefectural government's task force room early on Thursday to wait for warnings from their alert systems.

In Tokyo, meanwhile, Osamu Fujimura, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, told reporters that "Japan has been liaising with relevant countries up to now, and we continue to urge North Korea to refrain from launching the rocket described as the 'satellite'.