Japan and the US have agreed to deploy advanced Patriot interceptor missiles on US bases in Japan for the first time, officials said yesterday, amid concerns North Korea may test-fire a long-range ballistic missile.
The two countries reached the accord earlier this month and intend to install the weapons as soon as possible, a Defense Agency spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity. The plan will put Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles -- designed to intercept ballistic missiles, cruise missiles or enemy aircraft -- on US bases in Japan for the first time.
The spokeswoman said sites and timing for the deployment have not yet been decided.
But the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the US military would deploy three or four of the surface-to-air missile batteries on Okinawa by the end of the year and send an additional 500 to 600 US troops there.
The plan was proposed by US officials during a June 17 meeting in Hawaii, the newspaper reported, quoting unidentified government officials.
The two countries signed an agreement last year allowing Japan to produce PAC-3 missiles for deployment during fiscal 2006 at Japanese bases, but the plan to deploy them on US bases is apparently separate.
Concerns that Pyongyang may test-fire a Taepodong-2 missile have prompted the US to move up a test of a missile-detecting radar system in northern Japan, the Kyodo News agency reported, citing an unidentified US official in Washington.
The X-Band radar had been transferred from a US base in Japan to the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force's Shariki base at Tsugaru, 580km northeast of Tokyo. A test-run of the radar was initially scheduled to begin weeks later. However, Kyodo said testing could start as early as yesterday.
The radar deployment is part of the joint missile defense project, which began after North Korea fired a missile, part of which flew over Japan, in 1998.
Tokyo and Washington on Friday signed an agreement to expand their cooperation on a joint ballistic missile defense shield.
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