Japan today ordered the Armed Forces to begin preparations for the imminent launch of a spy satellite in North Korea, particularly due to the risk of rocket debris falling on Japanese territory.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada gave the order just days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered his space agency to begin final preparations for the launch, which has no date yet.
Putting the satellite into orbit requires the use of a long-range projectile. But North Korea is prohibited from launching them, as the United Nations views such exercises as tests of ballistic missile technology.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said today that there is a “possibility to order destructive measures against ballistic and other missiles.”
Hamada urged the troops to “implement the necessary measures to limit the damage in the event of a ballistic missile falling,” the AFP news agency reported.
The minister ordered the country’s forces to prepare for the deployment of destroyers equipped with SM-3 missile interceptors, as well as military units in the southern prefecture of Okinawa that can operate Patriot PAC-3 missiles.
Foreign ministers from the G7, the group of the seven most advanced economies, on Tuesday called on North Korea to “refrain” from carrying out new missile launches or nuclear tests.
The call by the G7 (Japan, the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom) follows the intensification of Pyongyang’s weapons program, which this month launched its first solid-fuel ballistic missile, a great advance for the North Korean Army.
Source: Ambito
