SEOUL North Korea has notified Japan of its plan to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported on Monday, citing a Japanese government official.

"We strongly urge North Korea to refrain from launching while cooperating with relevant countries such as the U.S. and South Korea," the Japanese prime minister's office said in a tweet on Monday.

The office said the Japanese government would do all it could to collect and analyze information from the launch.

Japan's Kyodo news agency carried the same report, citing the Japanese Coast Guard.

Earlier in May, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a military satellite facility, his government's state media KCNA reported.

The KCNA report said Kim had approved next steps of the non-permanent satellite-launching preparatory committee.

  - Reuters