TOKYO, SEPT 3: Japan's military was put on an increased level of alert today to prepare for a second ballistic missile test launch by North Korea, possibly within a matter of days.The statement came as Pyongyang ignored outrage about its test-firing of a ballistic missile over Japan on Monday and instead appealed to the world for more food aid because of new damage from bad weather.A senior Japanese official said the new launch could come as early as Saturday, when North Korea's de facto leader Kim Jong-Il is expected to be named the country's head of state, or next Wednesday, when the Communist nation celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding.``The government has information from various sources that there are preparations for a second N Korean missile launch,'' deputy chief cabinet secretary Muneo Suzuki told reporters.He said a new launch would be ``totally unacceptable'' and meet with a ``resolute stance'' by Japan.Japan says North Korea on Monday fired its newly developedthree-stage ballistic missile, known as Taepo Dong 1 with a range of 2,000 km, over Japanese territory.The first stage of the rocket dropped into the Sea of Japan, which separates the two nations, and the second stage flew over Japan's main island of Honshu and dropped in the Pacific Ocean about 600 km off the northern Japanese coast.Meanwhile, Japan ended all charter flights to and from North Korea on Wednesday in retaliation for the earlier firing of a missile.The decision affects nine cargo flights from North Korea to Japan and 14 other flights that were still up for approval, said Transport Ministry official Eiichiro Oishi.Tokyo has already decided to drop further talks to establish diplomatic ties with North Korea to protest on Monday's test launch. It has ruled out additional food aid and suspended work on an international project to build nuclear reactors there.``We must make North Korea understand that this kind of action will be costly,'' Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said.Japanalso plans to file a protest in the United Nations, both in the Security Council and the General Assembly, officials said.On Wednesday, North Korea commented on the missile for the first time. ``We bitterly denounce Japan for making a fuss over the matter that belongs to our sovereignty while being unaware of its background,'' the North's official Korean central news agency said. ``Japan's behaviour is ridiculous''.That elicited a strong reaction from Japan, with chief cabinet secretary Hiromu Nonaka reportedly calling it unacceptable. ``We refuse to accept such remarks from a country that completely ignored international rules and shot missiles that flew over another nation,'' Nonaka, the government spokesman, was quoted as saying by the Yomiuri newspaper.The defence agency acknowledged yesterday that it waited more than eight hours before disclosing to the public that the missile had landed not in the Sea of Japan, as initially reported, but in the Pacific Ocean, just some 500 kms off theeastern coast of Japan.
