TOKYO—Japan has received intelligence indicating that North Korea may be preparing to test launch a short-range missile, an official said Thursday.Information from spy satellites and radio waves has shown North Korea beefing up troops and equipment around missile launch bases, said Shigemi Terui, a spokesman at the prime minister’s office.The government has set up an emergency task-force team to help gather more information, Terui said.The secretive communist nation has test-fired short-range missiles into the ocean on several occasions last year during an international standoff over its nuclear weapons program.In Seoul, Rhee Bong-jo, the deputy unification minister, said earlier Thursday that South Korea recently detected activity “connected to North Korean missiles.”South Korea believes “there is a high possibility that these were part of the annual, routine activities of North Korean missile units,” Rhee said. “But since we cannot rule out a possibility of a missile launch, we are continuously monitoring and trying to confirm the situation.”Nodong missiles have a range of about 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) and would be capable of striking parts of Japan’s main islands, the daily Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said. Officials estimate that it could be about two weeks before a possible launch.Japan dispatched an Aegis-equipped destroyer and other surveillance equipment to the Sea of Japan on Tuesday evening following the discovery, the Yomiuri said.A Maritime Self-Defense Forces official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the Aegis destroyer Myoko had left port for training. The official spoke from Maizuru, the home port of the vessel identified in the Yomiuri report.Officials are also preparing for the possibility of a longer-range launch of a Taepodong ballistic missile, the Yomiuri said.North Korea launched a Taepodong missile over Japan’s main island and into the Pacific Ocean in 1998, demonstrating that virtually any target in Japan was within its range.North Korea also fired land-to-ship missiles off its eastern coast on at least three occasions last year. The United States and South Korea criticized them as attempts to force Washington into negotiations about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program on Pyongyang’s terms.The report comes amid troubling rhetoric recently from Pyongyang that has slowed efforts to hold six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons development. The next round of talks with the United States, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia were planned for late September.-- AP