Japan said Monday it is preparing for North Korea to launch in the coming weeks what Pyongyang has described as a satellite, but Tokyo believes may be a ballistic missile.

Pyongyang has informed Japan’s coastguard that a rocket will be launched between May 31 and June 11 and will fall in waters near the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of Luzon Island in the Philippines, a coastguard spokesman said.

However, the prime minister’s office in a tweet said Fumio Kishida issued instructions “on North Korea’s notification about the launch of a ballistic missile that it describes as a satellite”.

He has told officials to gather intelligence, remain vigilant and closely coordinate with allies including the United States and South Korea, the tweet added.

And Japan’s defence ministry has issued an order for the Air Self-Defense Force to destroy any ballistic missile confirmed to be on course to fall into the country’s territory.

The troops would be authorised to use Standard Missile SM-3 and Patriot Missile PAC-3 to shoot down a projectile in mid-air, the ministry said.

“Even if it’s described as a satellite, a launch using ballistic missile technology would be a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and a serious problem that threatens the safety of people,” Kishida told reporters.

Pyongyang has intensified its missile launches in recent months, with some triggering emergency warning systems in parts of Japan.

Seoul and Tokyo have meanwhile been working to mend long-frayed ties, including with greater cooperation on North Korea’s military threats.

Asked about possible negotiations with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, Kishida on Monday reiterated that Tokyo is open to talks, adding he was interested in “making concrete progress”.

North Korean state media meanwhile published a statement from its vice-minister of foreign affairs, appearing to endorse a conciliatory approach to relations with Japan — an unusual stance from Pyongyang.

If Japan avoids “being shackled by the past, and seeks a way out for improving the relations, there is no reason for the DPRK and Japan not to meet”, the statement from Pak Sang Gil said.

An avalanche has killed at least 10 people in a remote area of northern Pakistan, as poor weather and limited accessibility were hampering rescue efforts.

The avalanche on Saturday, which also injured more than 10 people, happened near the Shounter Pass that connects the Gilgit-Baltistan region with Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

“A group of around 35 nomads who were returning from Kashmir had set up camp close to a ravine,” rescue official Subah Khan said.

“They were struck by an avalanche late at night that caused at least 10 deaths.”

Khan said initial assessments suggest up to 15 head of cattle also died.

The chief secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan’s office also confirmed the causalities in a statement.

Muhammad Riaz, a police official from the area, said residents were taking the lead in the rescue operation in the difficult-to-reach area.

Every year, local nomads, also known as Bakarwals, migrate alongside their herds in search of suitable pastures for their livestock and to evade harsh weather conditions.

Last June, Nepal’s tourism ministry announced plans to move Everest base camp lower down the famous mountain because human activity were making it unsafe.

The camp sits on the Khumbu glacier which is thinning rapidly, creating risks for the hundreds of climbers who pass through every year.

But following opposition from the Sherpa community and other mountaineering operators, the idea has been shelved.

Sherpa leaders said the move was impractical and that there was no viable alternative location.

As the backbone of the mountaineering industry, the Sherpa’s voice is crucial.

Opposition to the move is widespread – more than 95% of attendees rejected the idea at a recent consultation with the mountaineering industry, say tourism ministry officials and the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

Nepal’s recently appointed tourism minister, Sudan Kirati, said the issue was not an urgent one.

“I have seen no interest or concern from any quarter on the issue of moving the base camp,” he said.

Anatahan is an island that is considered to be quite historic, and it is part of the insular area and commonwealth of the United States of America in the Pacific Ocean, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Having one of the most active volcanoes from the entire archipelago, the island has an area that covers about 34 square km (13 square mi), with the highest elevation to be 790 meters (2,590 feet) above the sea level.

Since 2010, the island is uninhabited due to the danger of the volcanic eruptions that are always looming over the small island. Being 9 km (6 mi) in length, and as it is 4 km (3 mi) wide, Anatahan has somewhat elliptical shape.

The Spanish explorer Bernardo de la Torre who sailed the Pacific on board of the carrack San Juan de Letrán around October 1543 is considered to be the first European to have set eyes on the island, but there were already the local Chamorros living there. Unfortunately, in 1695 they were forcibly removed to the capital city of the Marianas, Saipan, so that coconut plantations will be developed for the production of copra.

When the Northern Marianas were sold in 1899 to the German Empire, the business continued as usual, with coconut plantations still being developed, until typhoons destroyed most of them and the company that was running the entire game bankrupted.

After World War I, the Germans sold the island to the Japanese who enthusiastically revamped the entire plantation on Anatahan and also sent Kikuichiro Higa to oversee the local workers.

Kikuichiro later appointed Shoichi Higa as his deputy overseer, however, Shoichi grew fearful for his sister who lived in Saipan during World War II, and left the island with promise that he will return in one month.

He did not and his 28 year old wife, Kazuko Higa, was the only woman on the island, who later went on and married Kikuichiro.

The newly married couple were having some uneventful time living and prospering on the island, when in 1944 during the war, three Japanese vessels were bombed by US forces, which sank and only 31 Japanese soldiers swam to the coast of Anatahan.

The Higa couple welcomed them and made their stay very comfortable, until American B-29 bomber crashed in 1945. They looted the plane and created everything what was necessary for their life to be easier.

Soon after, when the Japanese surrendered, the American troops sent some local Chamorro people to bring back the bodies from the crashed plane, who surprisingly to the Americans said that there were some 30 Japanese people and one woman who are thriving on the island.

With pamphlets dropped from planes announcing to Higa and the comrades that the war is over, they refused to believe and prepared to be invaded by the Americans.

Sadly, Kikuichiro Higa died in 1946, and Kazuko took over the place of her late husband, which marked the beginning of enormous and unexplained problems that happened through some events which can not be confirmed.

Higa was saved by a US vessel, who was taken back to Japan and became something of a celebrity while touring the cities with her impressive strange tale of the “Queen of Anatahan”. Some time later the remaining of the Japanese soldiers surrendered too.

Nowadays, the island is an active “war-zone” because of the volcanic activities that are very often here, nonetheless, just passing by Anatahan one could feel very close to legend of Higa and great history it has behind.