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Experts fear North Korea could mark the birthday of the country's founder this weekend with a missile launch.

Pyongyang residents were today gearing up for their biggest holiday of the year when they pay tribute to Kim Il Sung Un.

During last year's celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth, his grandson Kim Jong Un was officially named the country's ruler.

As part of the double celebration of the Kim dynasty, North Korea tried but failed to send a satellite into space aboard its rickety rocket.

However, it tried again in December and succeeded and that was followed by the country's third underground nuclear test in February.

Kim Jong Un has been playing a high-stakes game of brinksmanship with the US and South Korea in the last three weeks.

The secretive state has broken off all relations in retaliation for what it claims are provocative war games by troops across the border.

Dr Virginie Grzelczyk, an expert in North Korea at Nottingham Trent University, said: “It will be very interesting to watch North Korea and its activities this weekend, as the week has seen a rise in aggressive rhetoric and potential plans for a missile launch.

"Though last year's launch ended up as a failure, its successful missile test in December 2012, very close to the one-year anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death, might mean that North Korea is about to try to ‘celebrate’ the upcoming anniversary with another launch."

(Image: Reuters)

US secretary of state John Kerry, who arrived in Seoul today for talks with South Korean officials, warned the North not to test fire a missile.

He said: "If Kim Jong Un decides to launch a missile, whether it's across the Sea of Japan or some other direction, he will be choosing willfully to ignore the entire international community."

A new US intelligence report says North Korea has advanced its nuclear know-how to the point that it could arm a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead.

However, while the Obama administration believes North Korea is preparing for another missile test, it does not believe the regime "has fully tested, developed or demonstrated its nuclear" capabilities.

Dr Grzelczyk added: “A potential North Korean missile test would be raising the stakes quite high.

"But North Korea would be likely to argue that it is its sovereign right to test its capabilities and defend itself against what it perceives as being aggressive policies from the United States and South Korea and from the international community in sanctions and condemnation at the UN and the G8.

"Ultimately, the posturing we have seen over the past three weeks is a way for Kim Jong Un to assert his position within the country, as well as abroad, as North Korea’s tough new leader, with perhaps the hope of extracting concessions from the international community for refraining from testing, and returning to the negotiation table.”

* Our reporter at the North Korea border was handed this shocking footage which shows life away from the carefully choreographed displays.