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| JASDF MIM-104 PAC-3 Launcher (Image: Wiki Commons) |
TOKYO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Defense Ministry on Tuesday announced that its ground-based missile interception system would be permanently deployed at a location in Tokyo following the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's increasingly frequent launches of ballistic missiles.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3, surface-to-air missile system would be permanently deployed by this time next year at the ministry's facilities in Ichigaya in Tokyo to safeguard the capital and the government's personnel and main defensive assets.
The move from Tokyo follows Pyongyang, in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions and following increasing condemnation from the international community, launches of five projectiles into waters off its east coast on Monday.
Nakatani said Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) have been ordered to shoot down any inbound ballistic missiles from the DPRK that is either aimed at, or would see stages of the missile fall toward Japanese territory.
Read the full story at Xinhua