(KUNA) -- Washington is considering deploying the Navy's Aegis cruiser Shiloh, which is equipped with an advanced missile defense system, to areas around Japan as part of efforts to deal with North Korea's preparations to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile, Japanese media reported Monday. The deployment would move up the US government's original schedule of stationing the Shiloh in August at the US naval base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Kyodo News Agency said, citing US government sources.Japan has already mobilized an Aegis-equipped destroyer of the Maritime Self-Defense Force amid growing worries about North Korea's preparations to test fire a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile. The Shiloh would be deployed in two weeks at the earliest, according to the report. In an interceptor test last Thursday off Hawaii, a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor fired by the Shiloh successfully shot down a warhead separated from a ballistic missile outside the earth's atmosphere. US President George W. Bush will make a final decision on the early deployment of the Shiloh and on whether to intercept the Taepodong-2, the report said.
Japan and the US are jointly developing an upgraded version of the SM-3 interceptor to make it capable of shooting down long-range intercontinental missiles. The joint project began after North Korea launched a Taepodong-1 missile in 1998, part of which flew over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. Pyongyang agreed on a missile-test moratorium a year later in 1999 -- a commitment it has upheld to date although it maintains the 1998 launch was a satellite-delivering multistage rocket.