N. Korea to launch satellite April 4-8

PYONGYANG, North Korea, March 12 (UPI) -- North Korea has told an international shipping safety agency it will launch a rocket with a satellite in early April, Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday.

An intelligence source told the South Korean news agency that North Korea has informed the International Maritime Organization of its plans to fire the Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket between April 4-8.

Yonhap said the communist nation also disclosed its intentions through its official news service, the Korean Central News Agency, but without providing a time frame.

The North Korean agency called the rocket's payload "an experimental communications satellite." It added that Pyongyang has joined the international treaty and convention on space.

"The DPRK's accession to the said treaty and convention will contribute to promoting international confidence and boosting cooperation in the scientific research into space and the satellite launch for peaceful purposes," the KCNA said.

Thursday's announcement follows weeks of reports that North Korea is preparing to launch a long-range missile from a base on its east coast. Pyongyang partly confirmed the reports, arguing it is seeking to send a communication satellite into orbit as part of peaceful space program.

The U.S. intelligence chief said earlier this week that North Korea appears to be seeking a space rocket launch as it claims.

"The North Koreans announced that they were going to do a space launch, and I believe that that's what they intend," National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told a Congress committee.