Japan FM expresses doubts over missile defense

Japan may not be prepared to intercept debris that falls into Japanese territory if North Korea's planned rocket launch fails, the country's foreign minister said Tuesday. North Korea has said it will launch a communications satellite between April 4 and 8, but Japan and its allies fear that is a ruse to disguise the testing of a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Japan responded to the warning by saying it will shoot down any debris that falls toward its territory in the case of a botched launch. The government is expected to issue an order as early as Friday calling for the destruction of debris or parts of the missile that fall toward Japan, allowing the defense minister to deploy interceptors in areas where the fragments are likely to fall, Kyodo News agency reported.

But as the launch date nears some officials have expressed doubts about the country's missile defense prowess, concerns the Defense Ministry has said are unfounded. Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said "it would be difficult" to shoot down fragments from a failed launch of the North Korean missile. "Our country has never done this before. And we don't know how or where it may come flying," Nakasone told reporters Tuesday. He was echoing an unidentified top official, who said Monday that "there is no way you can hit a bullet if you exchange pistol fire in a distant duel, according to Kyodo and other Japanese media.

Japan has successfully tested intercepting a medium-range missile last year, though it has failed once in the past, but the country has never tested capability to intercept a long-range missile, which Pyongyang is believed to be testing. Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said he disagreed with Nakasone's assessment. "We have been doing our best to be prepared," he said.
Hamada has said some of the interceptors in and around Tokyo, as well as a pair of destroyers carrying the ship-to-air missile defense system, may be shifted to northern states Iwate and Akita to intercept fragments that may fall.

On Tuesday, North Korea warned the United States, Japan and their allies not to interfere with its planned launch. A 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution prohibits North Korea from engaging in ballistic activity, which Washington and its allies say includes firing a long-range missile or using a rocket to send a satellite into space. Japan has already warned North Korea of more sanctions if the communist country goes ahead with a rocket launch. Prime Minister Taro Aso has said he would also bring the case to the United Nations Security Council.

Posted in: ABM,Missile