Tongchang-ri , North Korea ( CNN ) -- As North Korea presses forward with a controversial rocket launch , journalists were granted a rare glimpse Sunday of the reclusive country 's preparations . CNN was part of a group taken to the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Tongchang-ri , in the northwest part of the country . North Korea announced last month that it would launch a rocket carrying a satellite between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung , the founder of the Communist state . His birthday on April 15 , known as the `` Day of the Sun , '' is a key public holiday in the North Korean calendar . Pyongyang says the operation is for peaceful purposes , but Japan , the United States and South Korea see the launch as a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test . Firing the long-range rocket would breach U.N. Security Council resolutions , and Washington has suspended a recent deal to provide food aid to North Korea as a result . Japan has said it will shoot down any part of the rocket that enters its territory . `` If you look for yourselves with your own eyes , then you can judge whether it 's a ballistic missile , or whether it 's a launch vehicle to put a satellite into orbit , '' Jang Myong Jin , head of the launch site , said through a translator . `` That 's why we 've invited you to this launch site . '' Journalists -- who were not allowed to take laptops or cell phones to the site , but were permitted to film -- were shown the control center and the satellite that officials said would be shot into space . The rocket itself is 30 meters , or about 100 feet , long . It was white , with some red and blue paint . International leaders have urged North Korea to cancel the launch , but Pyongyang has refused to back down , insisting that the operation is for scientific purposes . The last time Pyongyang carried out what it described as a satellite launch , in April 2009 , the U.N. Security Council condemned the action and demanded that it not be repeated . An independent European analyst who visited the launch site said he saw nothing obvious that raised red flags . `` I do n't know what they want to do in the future , but today what we see is a space launcher , '' said Christian Lardier .
North Korea says it plans to launch a rocket carrying a satellite this month . Other countries say the move is a cover for a ballistic missile test . Journalists are granted rare access at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station .