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Japan starts to deploy Patriot missiles
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-27 23:05 TOKYO - Japan started to deploy Patriot guided-missile fire units Friday evening in response to the government's decision to intercept Pyongyang's rocket in case its launch fails and it falls onto Japanese territory, Kyodo News reported.
At Iruma Air Base in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, a fire unit capable of launching Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles left for locations in and around the capital, including the Defense Ministry headquarters near the Imperial Palace, the news agency reported.
Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered Self-Defense Forces to destroy debris from Pyongyang's rocket in the event that its launch fails and fragments fall into the Japanese territory. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has said it will launch a communications satellite in early April. Japan, the United States and South Korea suspect Pyongyang's planned launch may be a test-firing of a ballistic missile. |