Japan orders destruction of N Korean rocket if necessary
* Defence minister issued the destroy
order
* Event has raised global alarm bells
JAPAN: Japan's defence minister said Friday he had issued an order to
shoot down a North Korean rocket if it threatens the nation's territory,
a planned launch that has raised global alarm bells.
North Korea said this month it would fire a rocket to put a satellite
into orbit between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the
birth of founding president Kim Il-Sung.
But the United States and its allies suspect the launch is a
disguised missile test, and said it would contravene UN sanctions aimed
at curbing North Korea's missile programme.
“I issued a destroy order,” Defence Minister Naoki Tanaka told
reporters in Tokyo, saying he had received the green light to shoot it
down.
The order was issued after Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's cabinet
approved it on Friday morning.Last week Tanaka said he was readying
Japan's missile defence systems but Friday's approval gives the military
the power to destroy the rocket if necessary.
He said last week surface-to-air interceptors would be deployed on
the southern island chain of Okinawa, over which Tokyo believes the
projectile may pass, and in central Tokyo, one of the world's biggest
cities.
In 2009, Japan ordered missile-defence preparations before
Pyongyang's last long-range rocket launch, which brought UN Security
Council condemnation and tightened sanctions against the isolated
communist state.
That rocket, which North Korea said was also aimed at putting a
satellite into orbit, passed over Japanese territory without incident or
any attempt to shoot it down.
AFP |