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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.

A lorry loading the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles arrives at Asaka Base in Asaka, near Tokyo, March 27, 2009. [Agencies]

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.

Related readings:  Japan ready to destroy DPRK rocket debris  DPRK readies launch, stokes alarm  DPRK opposes any UN action against satellite launch

Two Patriot fire units based at Hamamatsu Air Base in Shizuoka Prefecture will soon be moved to northeastern Japan -- one to the city of Akita, Akita Prefecture, and the other to a village near Morioka, Iwate Prefecture.

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.

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