TOKYO (AFP) - JAPAN on Saturday launched a next-generation spy satellite as part of efforts to beef up its surveillance system against the threat of North Korea's missiles, officials said.

An H-2A rocket carrying the nation's No. 3 Information Gathering Satellite was launched on Saturday morning from Tanegashima Space Centre on Tanegashima island, southwestern Japan, the officials said.

'We successfully separated the satellite from the rocket and put it into orbit,' said Toshimitsu Ozeki, an official of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which built the rocket.

The government-run satellite will replace the first model, with an advanced optical device to distinguish objects on the ground with a resolution of some 60 centimetres (24 inches), the officials and local media said.

The new satellite will undergo a performance trial for about three months before starting fully-fledged operations, Kyodo News reported. The launch is the nation's latest effort to build an intelligence-gathering system following North Korea's missile launch in 1998 over the Japanese archipelago.

In defiance of international pressure, North Korea launched again what was believed to be a three-stage Taepodong-2 missile in April, with an estimated range of 6,700 kilometers (4,100 miles).

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