Japan Places Missiles On Land, Sea To Shoot Down North Korean Rocket

Japan is preparing to shoot down North Korean rocket with Aegis destroyers in the Japan Sea and Patriot missiles onshore if Pyongyang threatens Tokyo with the said satellite launch.

Japan has placed its military on high alert on Wednesday after North Korea notified the UN the International Maritime Organization of its plan to launch what it called an “earth observation satellite” sometime between Feb. 8 and 25.

Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani ordered ballistic missile defense units including Aegis destroyers in the Sea of Japan and Patriot missile batteries onshore to be ready to shoot down any North Korean rocket that threatened Japan, Reuters reported Wednesday.

The rocket is likely to fly over Japan's southern island of Okinawa in the Pacific Ocean at an altitude of several hundred kilometres.

South Korea has also warned North that it will pay a severe price if it proceeds with its plans.

"North Korea's notice of the plan to launch a long-range missile, coming at a time when there is a discussion for Security Council sanctions on its fourth nuclear test, is a direct challenge to the international community," the Blue House was quoted as saying by the news agency.

"We strongly warn that the North will pay a severe price ... if it goes ahead with the long-range missile launch plan," it said.

The announcement comes even as the US is working with the UN to impose stricter sanctions against North Korea in response to the recent nuclear test.

“The international community must impose real consequences for the regime’s destabilizing actions and respond with steadily increasing pressure.” The Security Council has a key role to play in holding North Korea accountable by imposing a tough, comprehensive, and credible package of new sanctions and by ensuring rigorous enforcement of the resolutions it has already adopted. This latest announcement further underscores the need for the international community to send the North Koreans a swift, firm message that its disregard – that their disregard for UN Security Council obligations will not be tolerated,” said the State Department spokesman, John Kirby said in an interview Tuesday.

If North Korea follows previous pre-launch preparation practices, we would expect to see in the coming days an increased site-wide (Sohae Satellite Launching Station) activity, traffic at the fuel/oxidizer storage bunkers, activity at the launch pad and the presence of tracking equipment, 38North reported 28 Jan. this year.

Activity at Sohae also suggests a possible rocket engine test is under preparation at the vertical engine test stand. A recently completed large rail-mounted environmental structure large enough to shelter the first stage of rockets, such as the Unha space launch vehicle or the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile or a new engine of similar size, has been moved up to the test stand. While this may simply be testing the ability of the shelter to move it on the rails, a more likely alternative is that an engine test is being prepared, the news report said.