The satellite, part of a program started in 2003 in concern over secretive North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, will be launched atop the domestically developed H2-A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan, the space agency JAXA said in a statement.

It would be the third intelligence-gathering satellite Japan has launched. The first two were put into orbit in March 2003. JAXA plans to launch a fourth next winter.

The program, overseen by the Cabinet, would enable Japan to survey any point in the world.

Tokyo's intelligence-gathering satellite program was prompted by North Korea's surprise test launch of a long-range missile over Japan's main island in 1998. The government's original plan was to put a total of eight intelligence-gathering satellites into orbit through 2006 to keep watch on the communist country, but that has been scaled back to four.

The multi-billion dollar program suffered a major setback in November 2003, when a rocket carrying two spy satellites malfunctioned and was destroyed in flight.

Officials say the satellites are not meant as a provocation and would also be used for other missions such as monitoring natural disasters and weather patterns.

But critics say sending up the satellites goes against a long-standing policy of conducting only non-military space missions.

The announcement of the September launch comes after North Korea carried out a series of missile tests earlier this month that brought widespread criticism.

But the activity in North Korea had no impact on the launch date, said Yasuhiro Itakura of the Cabinet office in charge of the program.

"Since the failure in November 2003, we had been trying to launch them as soon as possible,'' he said. "The events in North Korea have no impact on our schedule.''

Most of the missiles it tested were short or mid-range and all landed harmlessly in the Sea of Japan. But one was believed to have been a long-range Taepodong-2, a more advanced version of the missile the North launched in 1998.

North Korea claims its 1998 launch put a satellite in orbit, but that claim has not been substantiated. It agreed to a moratorium on longe-range launches the following year.

Though Japan's intelligence-gathering satellites are not under military control, Japan's ruling party proposed earlier this year that the military be allowed to use the country's space program. The proposal still needs to be approved by Parliament.

Since 1969, Japan's space program has been limited by a parliamentary resolution to peaceful uses. The new proposal would restrict military use of the program to self-defense, officials say.