Global Security Newswire

Japan is considering relocating Patriot Advanced Capability 3 interceptors so that they could be used in the event of a failed North Korean rocket launch, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, March 18).

North Korea has said it plans to use a rocket to carry a telecommunications satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8. The rocket would fly east, taking it over Japan and the Pacific Ocean.

Japan and other nations worry that the launch is intended to test long-range ballistic missile technology.

There are now six PAC-3 batteries deployed in the Tokyo area; some could be moved to the north coast of Japan for use against rocket parts that might fall toward the country if there are problems with the launch, said Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada.

"We are considering various measures, including that," he said today.

Two Japanese destroyers equipped with Standard Missile 3 interceptors might also be redeployed ahead of the rocket launch. The United States also has ships carrying Aegis ballistic missile defense systems operating in the region.

A North Korean launch of any kind might result in additional sanctions from Japan, said Prime Minister Taro Aso. A number of nations have said that the launch would violate a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution that prohibited North Korea from conducting ballistic missile activities.

"We will make a comprehensive decision, including the possibility of imposing tougher sanctions," Aso told lawmakers.

Existing trade sanctions, enacted in 2006 after North Korea tested a number of missiles and renewed every half-year, are due to end on April 13. There is a push from Japanese ruling party members to lengthen extensions to one year, to prohibit all exports and to make it more difficult to transfer money to North Korea (Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press/Washington Post, March 19).