Japan has ordered missile
defence systems to be prepared in response to the planned launch of a
North Korean long-range rocket next month, Japanese Defence Minister
Naoki Tanaka has said.
Reports said the defence systems would be deployed near the
island of Okinawa to shoot down the rocket should it threaten Japanese
territory.
North Korea says the rocket will put a satellite into orbit.
But the US and its allies believe the launch is a pretext for a missile test.
Pyongyang said last week it was to mark the 100th birthday of its late Great Leader Kim Il-sung with the launch.
The announcement drew widespread criticism that the launch would violate UN Security Council resolutions.
"I have ordered officials to prepare to deploy the PAC-3 and Aegis warships," Mr Tanaka said.
The Japanese parliament also passed a resolution condemning the launch.
South Korea, China and the US have also expressed concern over the planned launch.
"It would be a grave provocation threatening the peace and
security of the Korean peninsula and north-east Asia," the South Korean
foreign ministry said in a statement.
Nuclear envoys from South Korea and Japan held talks in Seoul
to work out how they would respond if the launch were to go ahead,
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua said Deputy
Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun met Pyongyang's ambassador to express
Beijing's "worry".
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called North Korea's announcement "highly provocative".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said any launch could discourage aid donors.
"Such an act would undermine recent positive diplomatic
progress and, in its effect on international donors, would likely worsen
the humanitarian situation inside the country," he said in a speech in
Singapore.
1 comments:
can't take for granted that fatboy of North Korea's launching.Desperation,that's the word.
It's also China's sound board.Warning indeed.
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