Japan To Shoot Down N.Korea Missile Passing over its Territory

Japan is going to shoot downj a North Korean missile if it falls toward Japanese territiry, Japanese minister said Friday.

Deploying guided-missile destroyers and anticrafet batteries, Japanese government is pussing some mood to ratchet up the tensions surroundings the luanch of what North Korea says is a rocket carrying a satellited.

But the United States and its allied fear that is actually a test of a long-range ballistic missile.

North Korea signaled this month, saying it would launch a rocket to put a satellite in orbit in April.

Naoki Tanaka, the Japanese defense minister, said that its actions against North Korea's plan was intended to protect Japansese lives and property.

Japan's military will deploy Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries in Okinawa, where the North Korean missile is expected to pass over.

(아주경제 송지영 기자)

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com