SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired an unidentified projectile on a southern path off its west coast on Monday, South Korea's military said, hours after Pyongyang said it would be launching a satellite some time before June 4.
The Japanese government issued an emergency warning on Monday for residents in the south to take cover from the possible threat of a North Korean missile, before lifting the warning and saying it was not expected to fly over Japanese territory.
Japan said over its J-Alert broadcasting system that North Korea appeared to have fired a missile, sending out the warning to residents in southern prefecture of Okinawa.
North Korea had earlier in the day notified Japan that it plans to launch a satellite between May 27 and June 4.
The launch would likely be the nuclear-armed North's attempt to place a second spy satellite into orbit. After several failed attempts that ended when the rockets crashed, North Korea successfully placed its first such satellite in orbit in November.
(Reporting by Josh Smith, Editing by William Maclean and Alison Williams)
