The South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command raised the alert level on the peninsula from Watchcon 3 to Watchcon 2 on Thursday as North Korea's rocket launch approaches."North Korea is believed to have completed mounting the rocket on a launch pad in Tongchang-ri" on its western coast, a military source here said. "As such we have raised the alert level."
Under Watchcon 2, which is issued when there is concern of a "vital threat" to the nation, South Korean and U.S. forces double their spy satellite and surveillance aircraft activity and call in more intelligence experts.