Japan PM: NKorea may be capable of sarin-loaded missiles

North Korean soldiers walk in the Ryomyong residential area after attending its official opening ceremony on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking at a parliamentary panel on national security and diplomacy, warned Thursday that North Korea may be capable of firing a missile loaded with sarin nerve gas toward Japan. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) (The Associated Press)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives for the official opening of the Ryomyong residential area, on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking Thursday at a parliamentary panel on national security and diplomacy, warned that North Korea may be capable of firing a missile loaded with sarin nerve gas toward Japan. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) (The Associated Press)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gestures while speaking at a parliamentary panel on national security and diplomacy at parliament's upper house in Tokyo Thursday, April 13, 2017. Abe warned that North Korea may be capable of firing a missile loaded with sarin nerve gas toward Japan. Abe's comments come amid looming concern about another missile or nuclear test by the communist country. (Yoshinobu Shimizu/Kyodo News via AP) (The Associated Press)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has warned that North Korea may be capable of firing a missile loaded with sarin nerve gas toward Japan.

Abe's comments Thursday to a parliamentary panel on national security and diplomacy come amid looming concern about another missile or nuclear test by the communist country.

Responding to a question about Japan's readiness at a time of increased tension, Abe told lawmakers that North Korea may already have the capability to shoot missiles with sarin as warheads.

A U.S. navy aircraft carrier is heading toward the Korean Peninsula as Pyongyang prepares for the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il Sung this weekend.