North Korea announced Saturday it would carry out a new rocket launch this month.

North Korea announced Saturday it would carry out a new rocket launch this month.

The launch is scheduled to take place between December 10 and 22, the Korean Committee for Space Technology announced in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Pyongyang launched last April a failed missile test.
The statement added that the launch of the Unha-3 rocket would be a purely peaceful, scientific mission aimed at placing a polar-orbiting earth observation satellite into orbit.

Washington and Seoul insist the launches are disguised tests for developing an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
They claim the Unha-3 rocket is actually a three-stage variant of the Taepodong-2 ICBM that the North has been developing for years but has never tested successfully.

Saturday's announcement ended weeks of intense speculation, based on satellite image analysis, that the North was preparing a fresh launch from its Sohae satellite launch station.

On Thursday the UN Security Council had cautioned Pyongyang against going ahead with another launch, saying it would be "extremely inadvisable".

The North's statement said scientists had analyzed April's failure -- when the rocket exploded after take-off -- "and deepened the work of improving the reliability and precision of the satellite and carrier rocket".