Japan warns North Korea against launch - International Herald Tribune

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International Herald Tribune

Japan on Friday condemned North Korea's plan to launch a rocket, warning that it was legally entitled to shoot down any threatening object that falls toward its territory.
North Korea told global agencies this past week that it would put a communications satellite into orbit between April 4 and April 8, using a rocket that will fly over Japan and the Pacific. The announcement unsettled neighboring countries that consider the launching a cover for testing the North's Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile. Washington, Seoul and Secretary General Ban Ki Moon of the United Nations all urged Pyongyang on Thursday to cancel its plans.
On Friday, Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan said: "They can call it a satellite or whatever, but it would be a violation" of a UN resolution. In 2006, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution banning Pyongyang from nuclear tests and ballistic missile activities after the Communist state detonated its first nuclear device. "Under our law, we can intercept any object if it is falling towards Japan, including any attacks on Japan, for our safety," the Japanese government's chief spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, said Friday.
If the North Korean rocket launching is successful, it will not fall toward Japan but rather fly over it. North Korea has said that it would consider any attempt to intercept its rocket "an act of war" and that it would attack the interceptors. Kawamura's remarks reflected Japan's growing anxiety over North Korea's missile capabilities. In 1998, North Korea launched its Taepodong-1 missile, which flew over Japan, although North Korea insisted at the time that this was another satellite launching.
This week, North Korea gave map coordinates for two danger zones where its rocket's spent boosters might fall. One lies in waters less than 120 kilometers, or 75 miles, from Japan's northwestern shore. The other lies in the middle of the Pacific between Japan and Hawaii.
It was unclear from Kawamura's comment whether Japan would attempt to shoot down a jettisoned rocket booster if it falls toward its territory. Japan, which has been developing a missile defense system with the United States, has said it is ready to shoot down an incoming missile.
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