Japan readies N. Korean rocket launch response

The isolated Pyongyang regime has said it will launch a communications satellite over Japanese territory in early April, but the United States and its Asian allies suspect the launch is a ballistic missile test.

Tokyo, which has developed a missile defence system with the United States in recent years, has warned it will attempt to shoot down any missile or debris that threatens to hit its territory.

North Korea, which has announced a launch window of April 4 to 8, says it would regard a rocket intercept as an act of war.

To prepare for the launch, “the government will summon the security council this week,” said Prime Minister Taro Aso. “It is the government's obvious duty to prepare to the best standard so people don't have to worry.”

Japan's security council includes the premier, chief cabinet secretary, defence and foreign ministers as well as other cabinet ministers.

It will decide how to respond to a North Korean launch — either the cabinet would make an instant decision after any missile lifts off or it could give the military approval in advance to shoot it down.

The government will likely choose the latter option, said Kyodo News and Asahi Shimbun daily reports, which added that Tokyo will likely issue an order Friday for its armed forces to prepare to intercept the rocket.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura met Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada and Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone Wednesday to discuss Japan's response.

“We exchanged opinions from the position that we would do the best for people's safety and security,” Kawamura said.

North Korea has warned that the rocket's first booster will likely plunge into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) off Japan's northern Akita prefecture, while the second will drop into the Pacific between Japan and Hawaii.

Washington and Tokyo have worked jointly on a missile defence shield, using land and sea-based missiles, against a possible attack from North Korea, which fired a missile over Japan in 1998 and tested a nuclear bomb in 2006.

On Tuesday Nakasone admitted the difficulty of shooting down a missile mid-flight, particularly when it comes unannounced.

“I guess it is true that it is difficult,” the foreign minister told reporters. “Our country has never really intercepted a missile. We would not know in what way, how, and to where a missile would be headed.”

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