Japan has put its military on alert for a possible North Korean ballistic missile launch after indications that Pyongyang is preparing for a test firing, two people with direct knowledge of the order said yesterday.
“Increased activity at North Korea’s missile site suggests that there may be a launch in the next few weeks,” said one of the sources, both of whom declined to be identified, because they are not authorized to talk to the media.
Tension rose in East Asia this month after North Korea’s fourth nuclear test, this time of what it said was a hydrogen bomb.
Photo: Reuters
A missile test coming so soon after the nuclear test would raise concerns that North Korea plans to fit nuclear warheads on its missiles, giving it the capability to launch a strike against South Korea, Japan and possibly targets as far away as the US west coast.
Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani has ordered Aegis destroyers that operate in the Sea of Japan to be ready to target any North Korean projectiles heading for Japan, the sources said.
A Ministry of Defense spokesman declined to say whether MIM-104 PAC-3 Patriot missile batteries and the Aegis destroyers had been deployed to respond to any threat from North Korea
The advanced Aegis vessels are able to track multiple targets and are armed with SM-3 missiles designed to destroy incoming warheads in space before they re-enter the atmosphere and fall to their targets.
Japan also has Patriot missile batteries around Tokyo and other sites to provide a last line of defense as warheads near the ground.
However, rather than a direct attack, Japan is more concerned that debris from a missile test could fall on its territory.
Meanwhile, South Korea yesterday indicated an increased willingness to host an advanced US anti-missile defense system as the activity detected at the North’s missile site revived talk of deploying a system opposed by China and Russia.
US military officials have said the sophisticated system, called the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), was needed in South Korea, which faces the threat of an increasingly advanced North Korean missile program.
“If THAAD is deployed by the US military in [South] Korea, it will be helpful for our security and defense,” South Korean Ministry of National Defense spokesman Kim Min-seok said.
Previously, South Korea was reluctant to openly discuss the possibility of the deployment, as it tried to walk a fine line between its closest ally, the US, and its biggest trade partner, China.
The US maintains 28,500 military personnel in the country, a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in a truce and left the two Koreas in a technical state of war.
China is North Korea’s major ally, but in recent years South Korea has forged increasingly strong ties with China.
“We believe that any country, when striving for its own security, should also consider other countries’ security interests and regional peace and stability,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) told a briefing when asked about the possibility of THAAD being deployed in South Korea.
The system has radar that can track multiple ballistic missiles up to 2,000km away, a range which would reach deep into China and Russia.
THAAD is built by Lockheed Martin, and costs an estimated US$829.2 million apiece. Some THAAD opponents in South Korea instead propose developing an indigenous missile defense system.
China and Russia, which are among the five international powers that have sought to negotiate with the North to persuade it to abandon its nuclear weapons, have spoken against stationing the THAAD system in South Korea.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most