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Japan braces itself for DPRK's planned rocket launch

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-28 19:59

TOKYO - 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.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's (JMSDF) ballistic missile defense ships Chokai (front) and Kongou leave from a port of JMSDF Sasebo Base in Sasebo, southwestern Japan, March 28, 2009. [Agencies]

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.

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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 may be 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.

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