Japan deployed two ballistic missile destroyers to the Sea of Japan yesterday to intercept any dangerous debris in the event that a controversial missile launch planned by North Korea goes wrong, defense officials said.
Pyongyang has said it would launch a communications satellite between April 4 and April 8 that regional powers believe will actually be a test of its long-range missile, the Taepodong-2, which is already believed to be on its launch pad at a North Korean missile base.
Yesterday morning, Japan deployed destroyers equipped with Standard Missile-3 interceptors to the Sea of Japan, which lies between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago, a Japanese defense ministry official said.
They are also equipped with sophisticated Aegis combat radar systems. A third Aegis-equipped defence ship left another base for the Pacific Ocean, where the missile is expected to land, the official said.
The US, Japan’s main security ally, is set to deploy two Aegis-equipped ships with missile defense capabilities from the South Korean port of Busan on Monday, a US military official said yesterday.
The official would not disclose their destination or mission.
North Korea has given international agencies notice that the rocket’s planned trajectory should take it over Japan, dropping booster stages to its east and west. Any attempt to shoot the rocket itself down would be an act of war, Pyongyang has said.
Japan’s Constitution does not allow it to intercept a missile if it is clearly heading elsewhere.
Regional powers Japan, South Korea and the US have pledged to punish Pyongyang if it goes ahead with the launch. They have denounced the launch as a provocative move banned under a 2006 UN Security Council resolution prohibiting ballistic activity by North Korea and have warned it would invite international sanctions.
“We will immediately discuss the matter at the UN Security Council,” Japanese nuclear envoy Akitaka Saiki told reporters after talks with his US and South Korean counterparts in Washington, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said.
South Korean envoy Wi Sung-lac reaffirmed Seoul’s position that a North Korean rocket launch would violate the UN resolution “no matter what” is “on the top” of the rocket, South Korean news channel YTN reported.
Wi and Saiki held separate meetings on Friday with US President Barack Obama’s new chief representative to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, and with Sung Kim, another US envoy who handles day-to-day dealings with the North.
“We’ve discussed ways to deal with [the rocket issue] at the UN Security Council, resume six-party talks and so on,” Wi said after meeting with Bosworth and Kim for two hours, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said.
Wi declined to elaborate on how the UN Security Council might respond to a launch.
“We expect the Security Council action, but we will not prejudge or predict the content of the action. It depends on the Security Council’s decision,” YTN showed Wi telling reporters.
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