North Korea's planned rocket launch is giving Japan's military an unexpected opportunity to deploy its ballistic-missile defense forces in the country's southern islands—the first time in the area that has been a focus of tension with China.
North Korea said last month it plans to launch an Unha-3 rocket to put a satellite into space between April 12 and 16. Japan, South Korea and the U.S. consider the move cover for a ballistic-missile test in violation of U.N. resolutions.
Japan has seen two North Korean missiles fly over its northern region, in August 1998 and April 2009. Japan deployed ballistic-missile defenses in the latter case.
Kyodo/Reuters
A police boat motors by a Patriot missile unit on the island of Ishigaki, in Okinawa prefecture
This time, North Korea says it will launch in a southerly, not an easterly, direction. That means the rocket is expected to pass high over Okinawan islands in the East China Sea, an area that has become a security concern for Tokyo amid disputes with China and worries over that country's increasing military profile.
On Friday, Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka told reporters that nothing unusual should be read into the southern deployment. "It's not related to a strengthening of our defense structure," he said. "It's just in case."
Late last month he ordered troops to destroy the rocket if it threatens to hit Japanese territory, although this is considered highly unlikely unless it goes off course.
Japan is preparing for any eventuality with the planned launch, with missiles situated on ships and on islands. It is mobilizing three Aegis-equipped ships, which carry SM-3 missiles, and is deploying eight land-based Patriot missile batteries: four on Okinawan islands, and four in Tokyo and surrounding areas.
"The Ministry of Defense and the Self-Defense Forces must be thankful to Pyongyang for providing a chance for training under such real circumstances," said Tetsuo Maeda, a Japanese military analyst.
Tensions with China over a territorial dispute in the area heated up in 2010 when a Chinese fishing boat collided with a Japanese Coast Guard ship. Japan detained the Chinese captain before eventually releasing him after strong Chinese protests.
Later that year, Japan approved a shift in defense strategy to address contingencies in its southern island and maritime regions, the focus of this month's deployment. For decades during the Cold War, Japan's defense posture was geared toward thwarting a possible Soviet attack from the north.
More recently, Japan has expressed concern about what it says is stepped-up activity by Chinese navy ships traversing waters near the Okinawan islands.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda last month described conditions surrounding Japan as "increasingly severe" due to North Korea's nuclear and missile development and China's naval activities.
Japan's Self-Defense Forces are constitutionally limited to defending the country, a result of its defeat in World War II and U.S. occupation. Any talk of possible armed conflict remains a sensitive subject. The potential missile threat from Pyongyang, however, is widely considered within the mandate of self-defense.
Debates in Japan over defense policy are closely watched in China, and the two Koreas for any signs of a more aggressive stance. Some in Japan's political spectrum say amending the constitution's famous war-renouncing Article 9 is long overdue, while others favor keeping it.
U.S. Democratic Sen. James Webb, a defense expert, said that Japan is taking the right measures with its missile-defense deployment. "I think it's prudent," he told reporters Thursday in Tokyo. "This is a government [North Korea] that is opaque. We don't really understand much about what its intentions might be."
SOURCE:WALL STREET JOURNAL(ASIA)
0 comments:
Post a Comment