North Korea has built a 220-foot launch tower at its missile base. The new tower is capable of launching a longer-range missile than the rocket fired back in 2012.

Although the communist nation is officially banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions from conducting any tests that require ballistic missile technology, North Korea has openly defied international warnings and has gone on to foster missile and nuclear programs. 

As reported by Reuters, South Korea's Yonhap news agency has quoted a South Korean government source as saying that, "Our assessment is that the North will use the newly upgraded Tongchang-ri (missile) launch pad to launch a long-range missile larger than Unha-3."

The “Unha-3” referenced was the expendable carrier rocket that was fired in the 2012 test launch.

According to the source, the potential missile launch will likely take place near the 70th anniversary of the founding of the North's ruling Workers' Party, which takes place on Oct. 10.

Although North Korea is thought to be developing an intercontinental ballistic missile, it is generally felt the country is years away from developing such an operational weapon. 

North Korea appears to want nothing to do with the recent historic deal between the P5+1 nations and Iran regarding the latter county’s nuclear capability.

As quoted in Time, an unidentified spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry said, “We are clearly a nuclear power and nuclear powers have their own interests,” adding that his country is not interested in becoming “a plaything to be put on the negotiating table.”

An article in the Economist, which addresses the differences in strategy between Iran and North Korea, notes that while Iran has great incentives to abide by the demands of negotiators, “For North Korea, reneging on its commitments was relatively painless and even had a strange kind of logic.”