Japan put its anti-ballistic missile defenses on alert on Monday and warned that it would shoot down any projectile that threatened its territory after North Korea notified it of the launch of a satellite between May 31 and June 11.
Nuclear-armed North Korea says it has completed its first military spy satellite and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has approved final preparations for launch.
"The government recognizes that there is a possibility that the satellite will pass through the territory of our country," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a regular briefing after North Korea informed the Japanese coast guard. about the planned release.
The Japanese Defense Ministry order, the first in response to a North Korean space launch since 2016, comes after Japan sent a destroyer carrying Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors to the East China Sea in April. ), which can hit targets in space, and will position PAC-3 ground-based missiles, designed to engage warheads closer to the ground, on the islands of Okinawa.
Japan expects North Korea to fire the rocket carrying its satellite over the southwestern island chain as it did in 2016, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.
North Korean state media have criticized plans by rivals South Korea, the United States and Japan to share real-time data on their missile launches, describing the three as discussing "sinister measures" to bolster cooperation. military.
Analysts say the satellite is part of a surveillance technology program, including drones, aimed at improving their ability to strike targets in the event of war. Kim inspected a military satellite facility in May, the state news agency KCNA reported.
North Korea has carried out a series of missile launches and weapons tests in recent months, including a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that any North Korean missile launch would be a serious violation of UN Security Council resolutions condemning its nuclear and missile activity.
"We strongly urge North Korea to refrain from launches," his office posted on Twitter, adding that it would cooperate with its US ally South Korea and other countries, and would do everything possible to collect and analyze information from any pitch.
