North Korea says it will launch a military spy satellite in June to "confront the dangerous military actions of the United States" Japan says it has been informed by North Korea of an upcoming satellite launch, a project that the Japanese government said would conceal a ballistic missile launch. Japan has ordered the shooting down of any ballistic missile confirmed to fall on its land or sea territory. North Korea has already tested in 2012 and 2016 ballistic missiles, which it described as satellite launches and which flew over Okinawa, in southern Japan.