North Korea preparing long-range missile test: RIA cites Russian lawmaker

MOSCOW (Reuters) – North Korea is preparing to test a long-range missile which it believes can reach the west coast of the United States, RIA news agency cited a Russian lawmaker as saying on Friday.

Anton Morozov, a member of the Russian Duma’s international affairs committee, and two other Russian lawmakers visited Pyongyang on Oct. 2-6, RIA reported.

“They are preparing for new tests of a long-range missile. They even gave us mathematical calculations that they believe prove that their missile can hit the west coast of the United States,” RIA quoted Morozov as saying.

“As far as we understand, they intend to launch one more long-range missile in the near future. And in general, their mood is rather belligerent.”

U.S. Treasury prices surged on the headlines, pulling yields lower, as investors cut risk out of their portfolios and sought the safety of Treasuries. Treasury prices move inversely to their yields. Benchmark 10 year U.S. Treasury notes fell from the session high 2.40 percent mark <US10YT=TWEB> to 2.35 percent around midday (1600 GMT) in New York. “It has just been risk-off buying into the long (Columbus Day) weekend … You look at the charts, it has really been a one-way trade of lower yields,” said Justin Lederer, Treasury analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.

(Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Additional reporting by Daniel Bases in New York; Editing by Catherine Evans and James Dalgleish)

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