North Korea is building a missile that is even bigger than the long-range missile it is preparing to launch this month, sources claimed Monday. South Korean and U.S. officials believe the North will unveil the missile at a military parade on April 15, nation founder Kim Il-sung's centenary, or on April 25, which marks the founding day of the North's Army. 
 
 A government source here said U.S. reconnaissance satellites recently spotted a 40-m missile at a research and development facility in Pyongyang that is larger than the existing Taepodong-2 missile. "It remains uncertain whether this missile is functional or is just a life-sized mock-up," the official added. 
 
 The rocket North Korea is preparing to launch soon is apparently 32 m long, the same as the Taepodong-2 that was launched in April 2009 with a maximum range of 6,700 km. The new missile is believed to be larger and equipped with a bigger booster that gives it a maximum range of more than 10,000 km, making it capable of reaching the continental U.S. ||||| There are about 10,000 people working on missiles in North Korea, three times more than in the South, a high-ranking South Korean military officer said Monday. He added they have "considerable research skills." 
 
 North Korea started developing ballistic missiles in the mid-1970s. It produced Scud-Bs with a range of 300 km and Scud-Cs with a range of 500 km and deployed them along the frontline in the 1980s. 
 
 The South Korean military estimates that North Korea has spent US$3.1 billion on developing and testing long-range ballistic missiles so far. 
 
 The rocket North Korea plans to launch this month is likely to cost $850 million which, according to a South Korean official, is equivalent to a year’s food supply for 19 million people in the impoverished country. The South Korean military believes that even more money was spent on training missile specialists. 
 
 In contr ast, South Korea has about 2,000 rocket propulsion experts in the civilian and public sectors excluding the military, some 200 of them at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. A defense industry insider said, "Even counting the military workforce, the total capacity for missile research is far behind from North Korea's with a mere 3,000 experts."
– North Korea is working on a rocket so big that it makes the long-range Taepodong-2 missile it's preparing to test-launch look modest, South Korean government sources tell the Chosun Ilbo. Based on satellite images, they've determined that the North is working on a missile with a booster so large that it could fire more than 6,200 miles, meaning it would be capable of reaching the continental US. The officials aren't sure if the missile is functional, or "a life-sized mockup," but they suspect it will be unveiled either during a military parade on April 15, or during the army's April 25 centennial celebration. The North has around 10,000 missile experts with "considerable research skills," a source said in a separate report, and has spent some $3.1 billion on developing long-range ballistic missiles so far. For reference, South Korea has about 3,000 rocket experts total between the public and private sectors.