North Korea Pursued Plans Rocket Despite South Korea And Japan's Warnings
Japan's defense ministry vowed to take a strong military response against North Korea's ballistic missile test veiled as a satellite launch which the reclusive state plans to proceed with in a couple of days.
In a strong-worded statement, the defense establishment authorized Japan's Self Defense Forces (SDF) to destroy incoming missiles, rockets, or other forms of projectiles that threaten the security of its citizens.
"We have defenses ready to deal with all threats, but in view of the announcement I have put the Self Defense Force's Aegis destroyers and our PAC-3 units on alert and issued an order to shoot down any ballistic missile threat," remarked Japan's defense minister Gen Nakatani as quoted by Reuters.
Likewise, South Korea is clearly infuriated with the North's recent provocation describing the reckless act as "direct challenge to the international community".
"We warn that if North Korea proceeds with a long-range rocket launch, the international society will ensure that the North pays searing consequences ... as it would constitute a grave threat to the Korean peninsula, the region, and the world," said South Korean official Cho Tae-yong as mentioned in a report by BBC News.
The planned rocket launch of an Earth observation satellite sometime around February 8 to 25 follows an earlier announcement by North Korea about its hydrogen bomb test which the US thought as possible but most likely a failure.
The military-oriented totalitarian state is allocating a huge chunk of its GDP towards defense spending particularly on its homegrown nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program which the country spent many years of developing according to Al Jazeera.
