This could escalate quickly
Japan on Wednesday condemned Pyongyang's plan to launch a space rocket, calling it a thinly disguised test of a long-distance ballistic missile.
The government ordered Aegis ballistic missile defense warships of the Maritime Self-Defense Force and land-based Patriot PAC-3 rocket units to respond should projections show components falling in Japanese territory.
"This will effectively mean the firing of a ballistic missile. It would be a clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and a grave, provocative act against the security of our country," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a Lower House session Wednesday.
"Japan, in cooperation with the United States and South Korea, will strongly urge North Korea to refrain from (conducting) the launch," Abe said.
On Tuesday night, North Korea notified the International Maritime Organization that it plans to send a "satellite" into orbit between Feb. 8 and 25. It said the launch will take place on one of those days between 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Japan time.
Pyongyang conducted a fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6. The planned launch is widely seen as both a test and a demonstration of its advances in rocketry.
Feb. 16 is the birthday of late leader Kim Jong Il, the father of current leader Kim Jong Un. Observers believe the launch window has been set around the day for domestic purposes ‐ to bolster the nation's morale.
During a daily news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga pointed out that the projectile, expected to be launched from a site in western North Korea, would fly over part of the Sakishima island chain of Okinawa Prefecture, which includes the islands of Ishigaki and Miyako. |