North Korea plans to launch satellite between May 27 and June 4, says Japan

North Korea has notified Japan it plans to launch a rocket carrying a satellite toward the Yellow Sea and east of Luzon Island between May 27 and June 4, the Japan coast guard said on Monday.

The South Korean government said later the North had issued a notice of a military reconnaissance satellite launch. If successful, it would be Pyongyang's second spy satellite in orbit.

The notice comes ahead of a trilateral summit meeting between Japan, South Korea and China scheduled for Monday.

Officials from the US, Japan, and South Korea held phone talks in response to the notice and shared a view that a North Korean satellite launch using ballistic missile technology would violate UN resolutions, Japan's foreign ministry said.

The officials agreed to demand North Korea cancels the planned launch, the ministry said in an e-mail.

The South Korean government said the North should call off the launch, noting  it would violate UN Security Council resolutions and pose a grave threat to regional security.

Its military said separately "so-called military reconnaissance satellite launch" would be a provocative act.

"Our military will be taking measures that show our strong capabilities and will," joint chiefs of state spokesperson Lee Sung-jun said at a news briefing, without elaborating.

North Korea launched its first military spy satellite in November last year, putting it in orbit after two earlier failed attempts in 2023.

The country claimed the satellite had taken surveillance photographs of the US White House, the Pentagon and South Korean military installations, but it has not published any pictures.

North Korea has vowed to launch three more spy satellites this year.

The successful launch in November came after the leaders of North Korea and Russia met at a space launch facility in the Russian far east, where President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would help Pyongyang build satellites.

Reuters