North Korea Preparing To Launch Satellite For Space Program

North Korea plans to launch a satellite soon, and the South Korean military and intelligence authorities are closely monitoring the situation, a South Korean daily reported Tuesday.

"Through various channels, we've recently learned that the North has completed a new satellite and named it Kwangmyongsong-5", the Joongang Ilbo daily reported, quoting a South Korean government source.

The report came as the North's ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun reasserted the regime's right to launch satellites and develop its space technology.

Kim Jong-un launched the country's Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite in February 2016, which most in the international community viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test.

A spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters that no unusual signs related to the possible launch of a North Korea satellite have been seen.

Earlier this month, the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaia Gazeta quoted a Russian military expert, Vladimir Khrustalev, as saying that North Korea was expected to launch two satellites - an Earth exploration-satellite and a communications satellite - in the near future.

Tensions have soared as the isolated regime has staged a series of atomic and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests -- most recently on November 29.