TOKYO:Japanis to deploy surface-to-air missiles in central Tokyoin readiness for North Korea's planned rocket launch, its defence minister said on Monday.
The siting of an anti-missile battery in the densely packed capital city would be in addition to facilities on the southern island chain of Okinawa Naoki Tanaka told lawmakers.
"We are working on procedures to deploy the Patriot in theTokyometropolitan area, acting on precedent," Tanaka told upper house members, referring to the PAC-3 surface-to-air missile defence system.
"We are also preparing to deploy the Patriot in the Nansei (southwestern) islands includingOkinawa," as the second stage of North Korea's rocket is expected to fly over Japan's southern most island chain, Tanaka added.
The nuclear-armed North has announced it will launch a rocket in mid-April to put a satellite into orbit, a move theUnited States,South Korea and other nations see as a pretext for a long-range missile test banned by the UN.
Tanaka said on Friday he was readying Japan's missile defence systems to shoot down the rocket if it looked set to fall on the country, a move similar to measuresJapantook in 2009 before Pyongyang's last long-range rocket launch.
In 2009,Japanordered missile-defence preparations, including the siting of one of its PAC-3 systems at Ichigaya, next to the defence ministry building in centralTokyo.
The preparations byJapan, regularly the target of North Korean barbs, come as world leaders includingUSPresident Barack Obama are meeting in Seoul for a summit officially focused on nuclear terrorism.
Obama urgedNorth Korea's leaders Monday to "have the courage to pursue peace", whileSouth Koreahas said it is also preparing to shoot down the North Korean rocket if it strays into the South's territory.
The 2009 rocket launch, which North Koreasaid was also aimed at putting a satellite into orbit, passed overJapanwithout incident or any attempt to shoot it down.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012
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