Posted on 05/29/2023 4:44:19 PM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
Japan put its ballistic missile defences on alert on Monday and vowed to shoot down any projectile that threatens its territory, after North Korea notified it of a planned satellite launch between May 31 and June 11.
The nuclear-armed North says it has completed its first military spy satellite and leader Kim Jong Un has approved final preparations for the launch.
It would be the North's latest step in a series of missile launches and weapons tests in recent months, including one of a new, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.
Tokyo expects North Korea to fire the rocket carrying its satellite over Japan's southwest island chain as it did in 2016, a defence ministry spokesperson said.
Analysts say the new satellite is part of a surveillance technology programme that includes drones, aimed at improving the ability to strike targets in wartime.
"We will take destructive measures against ballistic and other missiles that are confirmed to land in our territory," Japan's defence ministry said in a statement.
Japan would use its Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) or Patriot Missile PAC-3 to destroy a North Korean missile, it added.
Any North Korean missile launch would be a serious violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions condemning its nuclear and missile activity, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.
"We strongly urge North Korea to refrain from launching," his office said on Twitter, adding it would co-operate with the U.S., South Korea and other countries and do all it could to collect and analyse information from any launch.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said any North Korean launch that uses ballistic missile technology, including that which is used to put a satellite in orbit, would violate multiple UN resolutions.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
They at least have water rockets by now!
I feel sorry for the guy up in the satellite with the telescope.
NK should just pay Japan to put it into orbit....or Musk. they both can do it and have a better track record.
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