Japan deploys missile defence to northern island

TOKYO: Japan deployed an additional missile defence system on its northern island of Hokkaido, days after North Korea launched a missile over the island, sparking emergency warnings to take cover.

“As part of measures to prepare for emergencies, we will today deploy a PAC-3 unit” to a base of the nation’s Ground Self-Defence Force in the southern tip of Hokkaido, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters.

The Patriot Advanced Capability-3 system arrived at the base later on Tuesday, a local defence official said.

The move came 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.

North Korea “may take further provocative actions including launching ballistic missiles that would fly over Japan again in the future”, Onodera said, adding that his ministry “would take appropriate measures to protect people’s safety”.

According to local officials, Japan has already deployed the PAC-3 sys- tem to another part of Hokkaido.

But defence officials declined to confirm where in Japan other systems were deployed, citing the sensitive nature of defence information.

North Korea has threatened to “sink” Japan into the sea and said on Saturday it sought military “equilibrium” with arch-enemy the United States by developing a full nuclear arsenal.