North Korea may try to launch a military spy satellite in the coming days after its earlier failure

North Korea told Japan on Tuesday it plans to launch a satellite in the coming days, possibly a second try to put a military spy satellite into orbit three months after its first effort failed, Japanese officials said.

In late May, a North Korean rocket carrying a spy satellite plunged into the sea soon after liftoff, posing a setback to leader Kim Jong Un's push to establish a space-based surveillance system to better monitor the U.S. and South Korea. North Korea had vowed to make a second attempt after studying what went wrong with the first launch.

Japan's coast guard said North Korean authorities notified it about a plan to launch a satellite from Aug. 24 and the end of Aug. 30. Coast guard spokesperson Hiromune Kikuchi said that the notice didn't specify what type of satellite North Korea intends to launch but that he believes it possibly refers to one similar to the spy satellite in the May launch.

The North Korean notice mentioned three maritime zones that could be affected by its launch - off the Korean Peninsula's west coast, in the East China Sea and east of the Philippine island of Luzon. Japan issued safety warnings for vessels passing through the three areas, according to the website of the Japanese coast guard.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed officials to do their utmost to gather and analyze any information about the launch and to prepare for any emergencies, according to his office. He also called for cooperation with the U.S., South Korea and other concerned countries to demand North Korea not conduct the launch.

South Korea's Unification Ministry called the North's planned satellite launch “an illegal provocation” because it would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban