Pyongyang so far has rejected US overtures, accusing Washington and Seoul of talking diplomacy while ratcheting up tensions with their own military activities.
The North Korean launch would be the latest weapons test by the country, which has pressed ahead with military development in the face of international sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons.
North Korea's economy has been battered by years of sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programs, and heavy rains and floods have also taken a toll.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, who died on Sunday and founded Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, can be considered the father, or step-father of Iran, North Korea and Libya’s nuclear weapons programs.
The World Health Organization said it had begun shipments through Dalian port in China, which is near the border with North Korea, in order to supply North Korea with aid for the COVID-19 pandemic.
The announcement came just before North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations urged the United States to give up its hostile policy towards Pyongyang.
Addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in repeated a call for a formal end to the war but later said time is running out to achieve such progress.
Pyongyang has been steadily developing its weapons program amid a standoff over talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in return for US sanctions relief.
North Korea appears to have restarted a nuclear reactor that is widely believed to have produced plutonium for nuclear weapons, the UN atomic watchdog has said in an annual report.
A United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report states North Korea secretly and regularly violates the religious freedoms of civilians.
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