Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s Cabinet yesterday gave the green light to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it threatens Japan’s territory, as the planned launch raises global alarm bells.
Pyongyang has said it will fire a rocket to put a satellite into orbit between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding president Kim Il-sung, saying the launch was for peaceful purposes.
However, the US and its allies suspect it is a disguised missile test, and say the launch would contravene UN sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea’s missile program.
“[The Cabinet] at a security meeting this morning confirmed the policy to issue a destroy order,” an official in the prime minister’s office said.
The order gave Japanese Minister of Defense Naoki Tanaka the power to have the projectile shot down, as Japan grows increasingly worried that the rocket might pass over — or fall into — its territory.
“With this [destroy] order, we will do everything we can to prepare for a fall” of North Korea’s rocket, Tanaka said yesterday.
The defense head reiterated that surface-to-air interceptors would be deployed on the southern island chain of Okinawa, below the rocket’s forecast flight path, and in central Tokyo.
Aegis destroyers equipped with missile defense systems will also be deployed in waters near Okinawa and in the Sea of Japan (known as the “East Sea” in South Korea), he said.
Japan’s move came as satellite images showed North Korea has begun preparing for a rocket launch next month despite international condemnation.
The images taken on Thursday show that work to prepare the launch pad and propellant storage tanks appears under way, according to the 38 North Web site (38north.org), which published several images taken by private US firm DigitalGlobe.
North Korea also test-fired two short-range missiles off its west coast this week, South Korean media reported yesterday.
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