SEOUL - NORTH Korea appears to be preparing to test-launch its longest range ballistic missile, media reported on Tuesday, just days after Pyongyang warned that the Korean peninsula was on the brink of war.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency and Japan's Sankei Shimbun cited unnamed sources as saying the North had being moving equipment used in the launch of its Taepodong-2 missile, which the North last test-fired in July 2006.

North Korea, which typically launches missiles in periods of political tension, last week said it was scrapping all agreements with South Korea in a move analysts said was aimed at pressuring Seoul and grabbing the attention of new U.S.

President Barack Obama.

It will take North Korea at least a month or two to actually launch a Taepodong-2, the Sankei cited its sources as saying.

The last time North Korea fired a Taepodong-2, it fizzled shortly after leaving the launch pad. It is designed to eventually have a range long enough to hit US territory.

North Korea has more than 800 ballistic missiles with ranges that can hit all of South Korea and most of Japan. -- REUTERS