Sunday, April 5, 2009

By JUN HONGO and MASAMI ITO

Staff writers

North Korea fired a long-range rocket over the Tohoku region Sunday, but Japan did not try to shoot it down because its debris posed no threat to Japanese territory.

Standing down: A Patriot Advanced Capability-3 antimissile unit is taken offline Sunday at the Defense Ministry in Ichigaya, Tokyo, after the government decided not to try to intercept a North Korean rocket that passed over Japan. KYODO PHOTO

The missile, which Pyongyang claimed was carrying a satellite, blasted off from the Musudan-ri launch facility at 11:30 a.m. despite warnings from Tokyo and Washington that it would violate U.N. resolutions banning the North from ballistic activity. The Defense Ministry said the rocket's first booster fell into the Sea of Japan approximately 280 km west of Akita Prefecture at around 11:37 a.m.

The Self-Defense Forces finished tracking the rocket at 11:48 a.m. after it had crossed the Tohoku region and was about 2,100 km east of Japan over the Pacific. The SDF said a second booster could have dropped into the Pacific. Thirteen SDF planes were dispatched to the Tohoku region to look for damage, the ministry said.

"I have just given orders first to confirm safety, and to quickly gather and disseminate information," Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters at a hastily prepared news conference minutes after the launch.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura expressed deep dissatisfaction over North Korea's launch.

"I cannot help but say that the launch, carried out by North Korea despite repeated requests to refrain from doing so, was a grave provocative action from the viewpoint of security," Kawamura said. "It is a violation of United Nations Resolutions 1695 and 1718, and it is extremely regrettable."

Kawamura, the government's top spokesman, added that the government has already decided to extend sanctions on Pyongyang for a year from April 13, including a ban on North Korean-flagged ships from entering Japanese ports and all imports of North Korean goods.

But whether Japan will implement additional sanctions, Kawamura said, depends on the reaction of the U.N. Security Council and the international community.

He said the government filed a protest with Pyongyang through its embassy in Beijing.

"We strongly protested to Pyongyang that the launch is a serious issue from the viewpoint of security," Kawamura said.

He said the government was in the process of confirming whether the rocket was a satellite launch or a long-distance ballistic missile.

Prior to the launch, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada had mobilized Japan's ¥800 billion missile defense system and ordered the SDF to shoot down any parts of the rocket that could cause damage to Japanese territory.

In addition to moving Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptor batteries to Akita and Iwate prefectures, the destroyers Kongou and Choukai, both equipped with antiballistic missile defense systems, were dispatched to the Sea of Japan.

In response, Pyongyang warned that any attempt to shoot down its rocket would be seen as an act of war and provoke retaliation.

The Defense Ministry issued its first alert after receiving a U.S. Shared Early Warning missile-firing signal at 11:31 a.m., a minute after the actual launch. At 11:38 a.m. the ministry announced that the missile defense system was not activated during the incident.

Sunday was the second day of a five-day time frame that North Korea had set for the launch. Pyongyang had notified the International Civil Aviation Organization and International Maritime Organization that the first two stages of the rocket could fall in the Sea of Japan off the Tohoku region and in the mid-Pacific between Japan and Hawaii.

Anxiety at the Defense Ministry was palpable as reporters and officials awaited the looming launch. PAC-3 launchers were set up outside the ministry with dozens of SDF jeeps and cars standing by for emergency duties.

The strain reached its first peak at noon Saturday, when the government mistakenly announced that the rocket had been fired from the Musudan-ri launch facility. The alarm was retracted five minutes later, with an explanation that a radar in Chiba Prefecture mistook unrelated signals for the rocket launch.

"It is very regrettable that such incorrect information was released," the government said, with Hamada telling reporters that such mistakes were "inexcusable."

Many were left questioning both the timing of the launch as well as the accuracy of government announcements, but weather conditions near the launchpad in Musudan-ri is believed to have caused Pyongyang to delay the launch until Sunday.

North Korea has repeatedly caused tensions to rise in the East Asian region through its nuclear and missile tests. In 1998, the communist state launched a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan.

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