N. Korea launching satellite amid Seoul’s warning

North Korea has notified Japan that it will launch a satellite from 22 November to 1 December as South Korea warned against it.

The Japanese coast guard posted a notification on its website Tuesday of a launch window and Seoul's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries immediately issued a navigation warning for ships over the launch.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters he had instructed government ministries and agencies to keep the public informed, "to demand cancellation of the launch… and to make utmost efforts in preparing for unpredictable situations."

He added that any use of ballistic missile technology by Pyongyang would represent a breach of United Nations resolutions and that Japan was coordinating its response with South Korea and the United States, its partners in a trilateral defense arrangement.

"The danger zones notified by North Korea this time align with the danger zones that were announced during their satellite launch plan in August," a South Korean official said, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea previously identified three maritime zones that could potentially be impacted by the planned launch, two in the Yellow Sea, west of the Korean Peninsula, and a third in waters east of the Philippines.

Seoul has been warning for weeks that Pyongyang is in the "final stages" of preparation for another spy satellite launch, with defense minister Shin Won-sik saying Sunday that the lift-off could take place as early as this week.

"We sternly warn North Korea to… immediately suspend the current preparations to launch a military spy satellite," Kang Ho-pil, chief director of operations at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday.

"If North Korea goes ahead with the launch of a military reconnaissance satellite despite our warning, our military will take necessary measures to guarantee the lives and safety of the people."

The launch is Pyongyang's third attempt to put a military eye in the sky coming after it likely received technical help from Russia in exchange for arms transfers.

North Korea's first and second attempts to put a spy satellite into orbit, in May and August respectively, both failed, with Pyongyang promising to carry out a third in October, which never materialized.

The country is barred by successive rounds of UN resolutions from tests using ballistic technology and analysts say there is significant technological overlap between space launch capabilities and the development of ballistic missiles.

South Korea has said it expects Pyongyang's third launch to be more successful than previous attempts, as the North has likely received help from Russian experts in exchange for arms transfers to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.