Resolute action needed over N. Korea's rocket launch: defense chief+

TOKYO, April 5 Kyodo - Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Sunday that Japan should take resolute action against North Korea over its rocket launch, expressing displeasure over the rocket's trajectory over Japan.

''It's very regrettable that North Korea carried out the launch despite calls
by the international community, including Japan, for it to restrain itself,''
Hamada said at a news conference at the Defense Ministry.
''The Japanese government will take a resolute stance by closely coordinating
with the other countries concerned,'' he said.
The defense minister criticized North Korea for sending the rocket over
northeastern Japan, calling the act ''extremely unpleasant and regrettable.''
''I believe that flying a projectile over another country is extremely
problematic even if it (North Korea) has taken procedural steps,'' he said.
In response to North Korean plans announced last month that it would put a
satellite into orbit between Saturday and Wednesday, Japan deployed destroyers
carrying missile interceptors in the Sea of Japan and Patriot antiballistic
missile batteries to the country's northeastern Tohoku region.
Hamada ordered the Self-Defense Forces to shoot down any part of the rocket if
it appeared to fall toward Japan due to launch failure, but on Sunday the SDF
did not attempt an interception as the rocket flew over the country.
No damage from the rocket has been reported in the country so far.
Hamada expressed satisfaction about the performance of Japan's antiballistic
missile shield, which tracked the rocket's movement with the SDF's ground-based
and sea-borne radar.
''I believe that the various systems we possess fully performed, and that the
radar and other functions exerted their capabilities to the full,'' he said.
Sunday's rocket launch came in the wake of a huge blunder the Defense Ministry
and the SDF committed the previous day over launch information that later
proved to be false.
The ministry has attributed the cause of the incident, which sowed confusion
among the public, to miscommunication within the defense apparatus.
''Things turned out to be regrettable yesterday, but as far as today's handling
goes, information conveyance went very well,'' Hamada said.
Despite North Korea's satellite claim, countries such as Japan and the United
States see the launch as a cover to test its long-range ballistic missile
technology.
Hamada reserved his judgment on whether North Korea did indeed put a satellite
into orbit on Sunday. ''It will take us some time to see whether it was really
for a satellite,'' he said.
According to the ministry, North Korea launched a rocket from its northeastern
region at around 11:30 a.m. The rocket passed over Akita and Iwate prefectures
toward the Pacific seven minutes later.
What is believed to have been the rocket's first-stage booster appears to have
fallen into the Sea of Japan some 280 kilometers off the coast of Akita
Prefecture.
The ministry at first forecast that the second airframe would fall into the
Pacific roughly 1,270 km from Japan but later said it has yet to confirm
whether the object splashed into the sea as forecast.
The ministry has noted, however, that the SDF terminated its radar tracking
effort at a point where the projectile was flying 2,100 km from Japan over the
Pacific.
==Kyodo
2009-04-05 22:4