- (AFP) -- Japan is to adopt ballistic missile defense
(BMD) systems to protect itself from the threat of North Korean missile
attacks.
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- Japan has decided to introduce the US-developed system
for now and continue to conduct joint research with the United States to
improve on the system, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said in a statement.
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- "BMD meets (Japan's) exclusively defense-oriented
policy as the only effective method to counter attacks by ballistic missiles,"
he said.
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- "It is a purely defensive system and should not
threaten our neighbors," he said.
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- "We will do our utmost to defend our nation and
to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction."
-
- Defense Agency officials said in August that they would
seek 4.96 trillion yen (46 billion dollars) in defense spending for the
year to March 2005, including 142.3 billion yen as part of a four-year
plan to build up the ballistic missile defense system.
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- The system will include US-developed SM-3 missiles launched
from Japan's high-tech Aegis guided missile destroyers and land-based Patriot
Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) anti-missile systems.
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- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet also agreed
to review overall defense capability by setting a new basic defense framework
-- last updated in 1995 -- by the end of March 2005.
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- At the same time the cabinet has decided to set a new
five-year defense program to better equip the military to cope with new
types of terrorism and the threat of North Korean missile attacks, said
a Defense Agency spokesman.
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- "With the planned introduction of the BMD system,
we will draft a new basic defense framework," said the spokesman.
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- Japan's defense policies are shifting away from threats
of Cold War-style foreign invasion to "new threats" such as terrorist
attacks and ballistic missiles from other nations, officials have said.
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- The Defense Agency plans to gradually reduce military
equipment, such as tanks, jets and destroyers, which were bought to fight
foreign invading forces.
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