Japan to deploy Aegis warships to intercept what neighbors see as missile


North Korea has transported the main body of a long-range rocket to a launch site in the northwestern part of the reclusive state, a news report said Sunday.

The move indicates that Pyongyang is taking further steps to put a satellite into orbit using a long-range missile between April 12 and 16, a South Korean government official said.

A train moved the main body to the launch facility in Dongchang-ri, Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, Saturday, Fuji Television reported.

“It is difficult to confirm the report but it is an expected move, as the North already declared that it could launch a satellite as early as April 12,” the official told The Korea Herald on condition of anonymity.

“The North showed a similar pattern of preparation when they launched a missile in April 2009,” he said.

News reports said the Japanese government has decided on Friday to deploy three Aegis warships to intercept a North Korean rocket.

“I have ordered officials to prepare to deploy the PAC-3 and Aegis warships,” Japan’s Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka told reporters.

Pyongyang’s planned rocket launch is to celebrate the 100th year of the North’s founder Kim Il-sung’s birth on April 15.

The international community including the U.S., China, Russia, Japan and EU have called on the North to withdraw its plan, saying it will breach the U.N. Security Council Resolutions banning any launch of ballistic missiles.

Previously, North Korea launched rockets from the Musudan-ri facility on the eastern side of the peninsula.

The Dongchang-ri facility has a larger launch tower than that in Musudan-ri, allowing larger rockets including intercontinental ballistic missiles to be fired.

Located 70 kilometers away from the Yongbyon nuclear complex, the Dongchang-ri facility is more accessible to nuclear materials.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)