TOKYO, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Maritime
Self-Defense Force (MSDF) Aegis guided-missile destroyers headed Saturday for
the Sea of Japan to intercept a rocket the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) plans to launch if the launch goes awry.
The MSDF destroyers Kongou and Choukai, both equipped
with Standard Missile-3 ballistic missile interceptors, departed early Saturday
from their base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture.
The two warships are expected to detect and track the
rocket once it is launched, and intercept it if the launch fails and fragments
look set to come down on Japan or Japan's territorial waters.
The move came after the Japanese government made an
unprecedented decision to order the MSDF units to prepare for an event in which
a DPRK's projectile might fall onto Japan's territory.
During a Security Council meeting Friday, Prime
Minister Taro Aso gave the go-ahead for Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada to
issue the order in accordance with Paragraph 3, Clause 2 of Article 82 of the
Self-Defense Forces (SDF) Law.
The provision stipulates that in cases when a
ballistic missile or other objects is suspected of flying toward Japan, an order
maybe issued to the SDF beforehand to destroy it.
According to the Japan Times, the order, which is
valid until April 10, is partly aimed at reducing public fears over what Japan,
the United States and South Korea see as a test of Pyongyang's Taepodong-2
long-range ballistic missile, although the DPRK has announced repeatedly that it
is to send up a communication satellite as part of a peaceful space program.
"If a North Korean (the DPRK) projectile threatened
our people's safety and security by falling in our airspace, seas or land
obviously we must respond and prepare for the occasion appropriately," Hamada
said after issuing the order.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told a news
conference that it was unlikely the rocket would "fall on Japanese territory
under normal circumstances."
Urging people to go about their daily activities as
usual, he said the government would remain on the alert and prepare for any
contingencies.
Based on Friday's order, ground-based Patriot
Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3) interceptor missiles will be deployed to three SDF
facilities in the Tokyo metropolitan area and two locations in Akita and Iwate
prefectures to shoot down possible rocket fragments that may fall on the
areas.
TOKYO, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Maritime
Self-Defense Force (MSDF) Aegis guided-missile destroyers headed Saturday for
the Sea of Japan to intercept a rocket the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) plans to launch in case that it falls onto Japanese territory, Kyodo News
reported, citing defense ministry officials.
The MSDF destroyers Kongou and Choukai, both armed
with Standard Missile-3 ballistic missile interceptors, departed early Saturday
from their base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. Full story
TOKYO, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Japan on Friday ordered
its Self- Defense Forces to destroy debris from Pyongyang's rocket in the event
that its launch fails and fragments fall into Japanese territory, Defense
Minister Yasukazu Hamada announced.
"I issued a necessary order to Self-Defense Force
units to prepare for an event in which a North Korea (DPRK)'s projectile falls
onto our country in an accident," Hamada told reporters. Full story
Japan's Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada
speaks to reporters after National Security Council meeting in Tokyo
Friday morning, March 27, 2009. Japan on Friday ordered its Self- Defense
Forces to destroy debris from Pyongyang's rocket in the event that its
launch fails and fragments fall into Japanese territory.(Xinhua/AFP
Photo) Photo
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TOKYO, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Japan Friday ordered its
Self- Defense Forces to destroy debris from Pyongyang's rocket in the event that
its launch fails and fragments fall into the Japanese territory, announced
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada.
"I issued a necessary order to Self-Defense Force
units to prepare for an event in which a North Korea (DPRK)'s projectile falls
onto our country in an accident," Hamada told reporters. Full story
PYONGYANG, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Thursday it opposes any action of the United
Nations against its planned satellite launch, warning it would ruin the
six-party talks.
Any UN document related to the DPRK's satellite
launch, no matter "chairman statement" or "press communiqué," and the act to
submit the satellite issue to the UN Security Council, will be "brutal anti-DPRK
movement," a DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman was cited by the official KCNA news
agency as saying. Full story
WASHINGTON, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The United
States will discuss issues of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)
with its allies Japan and South Korea later this week, State Department deputy
spokesman Gordon Duguid said Thursday.
Akitaka Saiki, director general of Japan's foreign
ministry, and South Korea's Wi Sung-lak, the chief negotiator to the six-party
talks on the DPRK's nuclear program "will be in Washington on Friday March 27
for consultations on North Korea issues," Duguid told reports. Full story
