North Korea will launch a satellite in mid-December, the official KCNA news agency quoted officials as saying on Saturday, Dec 1, Reuters reported.

The satellite would be launched between December 10-22, it quoted a spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology as saying.

A satellite image recently showed a marked increase in activity at the missile launch site.

The imagery was released days after a Japanese newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, reported that U.S. intelligence analysts had detected moves that were seen as preparation by North Korea for a long-range missile launch as early as this month.