Japan says will destroy NKorea missile if threat to territory

SEOUL, REPUBLIC OF KOREA: A man watches a news report on North Koreas planned rocket launch as the television screen shows file footage of North Koreas Unha-3 rocket which launched in 2012, at a railway station in Seoul on February 3, 2016. North Korea announced it planned to launch a space rocket between February 8-25, a move condemned by the United States as another egregious violation of UN resolutions following Pyongyangs nuclear test last month. AFP PHOTO/Jung Yeon-Je

February 3, 2016
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan said Wednesday it would destroy a North Korean missile if it threatened to fall on its territory, after Pyongyang announced it planned to launch a space rocket this month.

"Today the defence minister issued an order" to destroy such a missile if it "is confirmed that it will fall on Japanese territory," the defence ministry said in a statement.

Defence Minister Gen Nakatani issued the order, citing the "possibility that North Korea will launch a missile it calls a 'satellite' within coming days," the statement said.

The order will be carried out by Japan's ballistic missile defence system, which includes PAC-3 surface-to-air anti-ballistic missiles, and similar SM-3 systems aboard warships, the ministry said.

The order will be effective until February 25, it added, the end of the launch window announced by Pyongyang that begins on February 8.