( CNN ) -- North Korea has completed preparations for launching what it says is `` an experimental communications satellite , '' the reclusive nation 's state news agency reported early Saturday . A satellite image shows a rocket sitting on its launch pad in northeast North Korea . `` The satellite will be launched soon , '' KCNA reported . How `` soon '' was anyone 's guess . On Friday , President Obama reiterated that the United States strongly opposes any such launch . `` We have made it very clear to the North Koreans that their missile launch is provocative , it puts enormous strains on the Six-Party Talks and that they should stop the launch , '' Obama said while on a stop in France . Obama warned that the United States will join with its allies to take `` appropriate steps '' to let North Korea know it ca n't violate United Nations rules and get away with it . Western nations fear that North Korea plans a ballistic missile test rather than a satellite launch , but the administration 's special envoy to the Six-Party Talks , Stephen Bosworth , said it did n't matter if the North Koreans were trying to put a satellite in space or testing a ballistic missile that could threaten Japan or the United States . `` Whether it is a satellite launch or a missile launch , in our judgment makes no difference . It is a provocative act , '' Bosworth said . Bosworth said the United States stands ready , in the event of a launch , to participate in U.N. deliberations on new sanctions against North Korea . A commentary carried by KCNA recently blasted critics for opposing its plans . `` This is nothing but a groundless outcry of the political philistines ignorant of any legality of the study of space for peaceful purposes , '' the commentary said . The U.S. Navy is monitoring the expected launch with at least four ships in the region around the Korean Peninsula and northern Japan , according to U.S. military officials . The ships -- three destroyers and one cruiser -- are capable of tracking and shooting down ballistic missiles using powerful Aegis radar systems aboard each vessel . Two ships are in the Sea of Japan , the USS Curtis Wilbur and the USS Stethem , both guided-missile destroyers . Two other ships are on the Pacific Ocean side of Japan to monitor the missile if it flies over that nation . Those ships are the USS Shiloh , a guided-missile cruiser and the USS Fitzgerald , another guided-missile destroyer , the officials said . All four U.S. ships are working with Japanese naval ships in the same region that are also equipped with Aegis radar . Watch report on launch preparations » . U.S. military officials say Pyongyang seems to still be on track to launch the missile as early as Saturday , but one official told CNN that winds strong enough to delay a launch are predicted for Saturday in the area of the launch site , in northeastern North Korea .
N. Korea says rocket containing `` communications satellite '' is ready for launch . U.S. military officials anticipating Saturday launch , but windy weather could delay it . Obama : U.S. opposes any such launch , which puts `` strain '' on Six-Party Talks . Aegis-equipped U.S. , Japanese naval ships are monitoring in Sea of Japan , Pacific .