Japan has rejected an invitation from North Korea to send observers to a rocket launch that Tokyo and its allies say is a disguised missile test

Japan has rejected an invitation from North Korea to send observers to a rocket launch that Tokyo and its allies say is a disguised missile test, officials said Tuesday.
  
"It is inappropriate that any Japanese officials participate in observing the launch," top government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said, confirming Pyongyang had invited observers from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). "Japan has asked North Korea not to launch a rocket," he said.
  
Pyongyang has said it will fire a rocket to put a satellite into orbit between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding president Kim Il-Sung. It insists the launch is entirely peaceful.

The invitation, officially extended by Pyongyang's Korean Committee of Space Technology, was "probably the first of its kind", JAXA spokesman Tetsuya Sakashita said. He said it was delivered personally by officials from the General Association of Korean Residents, Pyongyang's de facto embassy in Tokyo.
 
Fujimura said Tuesday that Japan would extend for another year unilateral sanctions on North Korea, including a trade freeze and visa ban which were set to expire next week.