Foreign journalists have arrived in Pyongyang to cover N. Korea's planned rocket launch

Foreign media reporters have arrived in Pyongyang to cover North Korea's planned rocket launch, the country's official news agency reported.

The North has said it will invite foreign reporters and experts to observe the rocket launch, set for sometime between April 12-16, in an effort to bolster its case that the launch is part of a peaceful space program aimed at putting a satellite into orbit.

South Korea, the United States, and other regional powers have urged Pyongyang to scrap the launch plan, accusing the communist nation of trying to test its ballistic missile technology, which is banned under a U.N. Security Council resolution.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch Saturday that reporters from more than 20 media firms, including the Associated Press, CNN, Reuters, AFP, BBC, Kyodo News and NHK, arrived in Pyongyang on Friday and Saturday.

The North says its Unha-3 rocket will blast off from a launch site in the country's northwest.

Yonhap News