Japan's defense chief said yesterday that Tokyo wants to speed
up efforts to establish a missile defense shield with the US to
guard against the threat posed by North Korea.
"In addition to building monitoring radar networks, we would
like to cooperate with the US and put our joint missile
interception into shape as quickly as possible," Defense Chief
Fukushiro Nukaga told a parliamentary committee in the wake of
North Korea's missile tests on Wednesday.
The US and Japan have been working to jointly develop a missile
defense system and last month agreed to expand their cooperation on
a joint ballistic missile defense shield, committing themselves to
joint production of interceptor missiles.
The two governments also agreed to deploy advanced Patriot
interceptor missiles on American bases in Japan for the first
time.
Japan plans to deploy its own PAC-3 missiles by March 2007 and
SM-3 missiles by March 2008, according to the Defense Agency.
Nukaga's comments Thursday came as he explained to the lower
house national security committee the measures Tokyo was taking
against Pyongyang in response to its missile tests.
On Wednesday, Tokyo barred North Korean officials from entering
Japan, suspended all chartered flights between the two countries,
and banned a North Korean trade ship from docking in Japan for six
months.
Japan also sought condemnation of the missile launches in an
emergency UN Security Council meeting.
(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies July 7, 2006)
