Tokyo - North Korea has not gone ahead with a planned rocket launch yet, the Japanese government said Saturday, correcting earlier reports of a launch.

Initial information about a launch had proved erroneous, Japan's NHK television said, quoting government sources.

Japan retracted the warning about five minutes after it initially sent out the news at 12:30 (0330 GMT).

North Korea has completed preparations for what it calls a communications satellite to be launched "soon," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said.

The communist state had announced plans to launch a communication satellite between Saturday and Wednesday, but the United States, Japan and South Korea fear the rocket launch may serve as a cover for testing a long-rang ballistic missile.

Washington and Seoul suspect Pyongyang is actually preparing to test a Taepodong-2 missile that could theoretically reach Alaska and carry a nuclear warhead. Its first test of such a missile in 2006 failed. (dpa)