Japan deploys missile defence to northern island
19 Sep 2017 5:08 PM GMT
TOKYO: Japan on Tuesday deployed an additional missile defence system on its northern island of Hokkaido, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP, days after North Korea launched a missile over the island.
"We are deploying a PAC-3 system at about noon" to a base of the nation's Ground Self-Defence Force in the southern tip of Hokkaido, said Kensaku Mizuseki.
According to local officials, Japan has already deployed the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile defence system to another part of Hokkaido.
But Mizuseki declined to confirm where in Japan other PAC-3 systems were deployed, citing the sensitive nature of defence information.
The move comes with tensions on the Korean peninsula at fever-pitch after
Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test and fired two missiles over Japan in the space of less than a month, sparking emergency warnings to take cover.
North Korea has threatened to "sink" Japan into the sea and said Saturday that it sought military "equilibrium" with arch-enemy the United States by developing a full nuclear arsenal.
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