Japan wakes up to threats from the skies

Reports by Jiji Press news agency and public television said the government would revoke permission given for nine charter flights from North Korea for this year and would refuse pending applications for a further 14.

“We have been given a new sense of urgency,” chief cabinet secretary Hiromu Nonaka told a news conference. “We felt powerless as we strove for our security based only on occasional information provided to us.”

“The incident made us realise the fear of not being able to obtain security information from our own satellite.”

Pyongyang’s unannounced missile test triggered alarm Monday in Japan after evading itssurveillance systems.

The headquarters of US forces in Japan tipped off Japan’s defence authorities about the launch. Washington monitored the firing on a spy satellite, according to a report here.

The weapon, believed to be North Korea’s newly-developed medium range Taepo-Dong1 which can reach any part of Japan, flew over the North of the country before landing in the Pacific.

Nonaka said Japan would consider launching its own surveillance satellite and bolstering cooperation with the US-led development of theatre and ballistic missile defence.

“The government will consider various measures including a reconnaissance satellite for the security of our nation,” Nonaka said.

“We are fully aware of the need to make a steady progress in a wide range of technical developments,” he said.

“There are many possible security measures such as TMD (theatre missile defence) and BMD (ballistic missile defence). A conclusion will be drawn from further debate.”

Japan has no spy satellite of its own,partly due to concern it could be seen as a military provocation to other nations, although it has extensive communication satellite technology.

A small budget has been assigned for consideration of a surveillance satellite but plans for construction have yet to be approved. Instead, Japan relies on US military information and buying US and French satellite photos.

“Consideration of steps to ensure the country’s security, including the use of a satellite, is indispensable,” Nonaka said.

The country has also been reluctant to join the US-led TMD project, partly due to the cost and pressure from its giant neighbour China which opposes greater Japanese military power.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told parliament he would ensure North Korea gained no benefit from its missile launch.

“I will respond in a way that the firing will never benefit North Korea, in a way that the country will realise that when it has done something unforgivable internationally it will end up paying a price for such anact.”

South Korea declared itself “shocked and outraged” nearly 24 hours after the launch of the medium-range projectile, but it also pledged to keep its policy of reconciliation with communist North Korea alive.

The Japanese parliament’s lower and upper houses are to hold special one-day sessions Thursday to protest North Korea’s missile.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi met with his foreign minister and Defence agency chief Tuesday, agreeing to halt food and other aid to North Korea, even though no such aid had been announced.

Tokyo decided to suspend normalisation talks, a government statement issued after the meeting said, although negotiations had already been broken off by North Korea.

Japan would also seek to prevent North Korea’s missile development program and Exports, and try to arrange a high level meeting soon with the United States and South Korea, the statement said.

The country would step back from an active role in talks on a 1994 agreement under which Pyongyang froze its nuclearprogramme for safer energy supplies, it said. A signing ceremony scheduled for Monday on funding the deal was suspended after the missile launch.