EU foreign ministers said Monday that a planned missile launch by North Korea would be a "provocative act" in breach of U.N. resolutions and require an international response.

They said North Korea's plan to launch a satellite would in effect be a ballistic missile test and break U.N. resolutions against Pyongyang developing such technology given its nuclear weapons drive.

North Korea is replacing a faulty section of a long-range rocket in a bid to put its launch schedule back on track, and is receiving help from Iranian missile experts, a South Korean newspaper reported Monday.

North Korea had said Sunday it was considering delaying the launch -- slated for some time between December 10-22 -- because of unspecified "problems" uncovered by technicians at its Sohae satellite launch station.

North Korea said Sunday it was considering postponing a planned long-range rocket launch originally set for between December 10 and 22, citing unspecified problems during preparations.

The Korean Committee for Space Technology said its scientists and engineers were "considering seriously the possibility of readjusting the launch period".

North Korea has put Kim Jong-Il's yacht in the family mausoleum and had to build a railway to get it there, a report said Friday as Pyongyang prepares to mark one year since the late leader's death.

The reclusive state has been putting together a collection of some of Kim's possessions at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, which houses the preserved body of his father, Kim Il-Sung, Yonhap news agency said.

Japan on Friday issued the order to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it threatens the nation's territory, the top government official said.

Tokyo has readied surface-to-air missiles in and around Tokyo, as well as in Okinawa, and is putting its armed forces on standby ahead of Pyongyang's planned missile launch.

An apparent North Korean claim to have uncovered a "unicorn's lair" that created an Internet storm was partly the result of mistranslation by Pyongyang's much-mocked propaganda machine.

In a report carried on its English service last week, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) cited archaeologists who "reconfirmed" the discovery of "a lair of the unicorn" ridden by King Tongmyong.

North Korea has completed installing a long-range rocket on its launch pad, ahead of its planned launch this month in defiance of widespread international condemnation, a report said Wednesday.

All three stages of the Unha-3 rocket have been placed on the pad at the North's Sohae satellite launch station, a South Korean government source told Yonhap news agency.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon is "seriously concerned" about North Korea's planned rocket launch, warning that it could heighten tensions in the region, his office said in a statement Tuesday.

Pyongyang announced Saturday that it intends to launch a long-range rocket between December 10 and 22, a move condemned by the United States, South Korea and Japan.

Tokyo has begun deploying a surface-to-air missile defense system and is putting its armed forces on standby ahead of a planned North Korean missile launch this month, reports and officials said Monday.

Public broadcaster NHK reported that a naval vessel carrying PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability-3) ballistic missiles left a western Japan naval base on Monday, headed for the country's southern Okinawa island chain.

China Sunday said it was concerned at North Korea's plans to launch a rocket later this month, state media reported, in a move strongly condemned by the United States and South Korea.

China, North Korea's sole major ally and its biggest trade partner and aid provider, is seen as one of the few nations with any influence over the regime.