Japan on alert as N Korea signals satellite launch

TOKYO: Japan yesterday put its ballistic missile defences on alert and warned it would shoot down any projectile that threatened its territory, after North Korea notified it of a satellite launch between May 31 and June 11.

Nucleararmed North Korea said it had completed its first military spy satellite and leader Kim Jongun had approved final preparations for the launch.

‘‘The government recognises that there is a possibility that the satellite may pass through our country’s territory,’’ Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said after North Korea informed the Japanese coast guard of the planned launch.

The order by the Japanese defence ministry, the first in response to a North Korean space launch since 2016, comes after Japan last month dispatched to the East China Sea a destroyer carrying missile interceptors that can hit targets in space, and sent groundbased missiles, designed to strike warheads closer to the ground, to the Okinawan islands.

Japan expected North Korea to fire the rocket carrying its satellite over the southwest island chain, as it had done in 2016, a defence ministry spokesman said.

North Korean state media has criticised plans by its rivals, South Korea, the United States and Japan, to share realtime data on its missile launches, describing them as discussing ‘‘sinister measures’’ for tightening military cooperation.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters any North Korean missile launch would be a serious violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions condemning its nuclear and missile activity.

‘‘We strongly urge North Korea to refrain from launching,’’ his office said. — Reuters