North Korea may launch a intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) around the time US citizens go to the polls to pick their new president, a local military source said Sunday.

According to the official source, the military is carefully checking developments taking place in the reclusive country and monitoring the movement of the Musudan missiles that are mounted on mobile launchers.

The US presidential election takes place on Tuesday, with the Democratic and Republican candidates locked in a close race according to many surveys.

The Musudan or BM-35 missile is a IRBM with a reported range of some 3,500 kilometers, which is enough to allow it to target the US Pacific territory of Guam. The island is home to many strategic assets that can support South Korean and US forces in the event of a conflict breaking out on the Korean Peninsula.

"Speculation of a launch taking place in the near future comes as North Korean experts have said Pyongyang will likely want to send a strong message to the next president," another military official, who declined to be identified, said. He added the North recently has carried out many of its provocations to coincide with key foreign events.

Others said if the launch succeeds this time around, it will highlight Pyongyang's growing nuclear and long-range missile capability that will give it more leverage in potential future talks.

Both the South Korean military and the US forces stationed on the Korean Peninsula said they are utilizing all available resources to keep close tabs on movement of missiles.

The military said it had detected a Musudan missile near Kusong in North Pyongan Province. The region is where the North fired off a Musudan on Oct. 20.

The North is known to have first fielded the IRBM in 2007, but it only test fired it for the first time on April 15 of this year.

Since then, it has fired eight missiles with only one, which was launched on June 22, flying any distance. That missile flew about 400 km after reaching an altitude of 1,400 km.

Besides the missile launch, military forces here are not ruling out other forms of provocations by the North, although it has thus detected nothing out of the ordinary along the heavily guarded inter-Korean border.

There has even been speculation that the North may be preparing for another nuclear test, which could drastically escalate tensions.

After detonating its first nuclear device in 2006, the North tested nukes in 2009 and 2013. For 2016, the North conducted two nuclear tests in January and September. (Yonhap)