Japan, US to hold talks on missile defence

TOKYO - Japan has decided to start joint experiments with the United States next year on shooting down ballistic missiles, a response to rising tensions over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programme, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said Tokyo and Washington planned to carry out the experiments from the financial year starting in April 2004.

Japan and the United States have been jointly studying a theatre missile defence system aimed at shielding US troops in Asia and its allies, but they have not yet conducted tests aimed at intercepting incoming ballistic missiles.

Tokyo began studying the technology for such a system with Washington after North Korea launched a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile that passed over Japan in August 1998, but has stopped short of moving the project to the development stage for fear of angering China.

Beijing is opposed to a US-led regional missile defence system out of concerns that it would be extended to include Taiwan, which it views as a renegade province.

A Japanese Defence Ministry official declined to comment on the report.

The paper said Tokyo and Washington would decide whether to move to full-scale development of the system after completing the joint experiments, to be held in Hawaii for two years.

Japanese Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said Japan ought to develop a missile defence system with the United States, since it lacks the capability to defend itself from missile attacks from North Korea.

He said an unspecified number of Rodong missiles with ranges of 1200km were already deployed in North Korea.

US officials said last week that Pyongyang had a three-stage Taepodong-2 missile that could reach the West Coast of the United States, but that the missile had not been tested.

A standoff over North Korea's suspected nuclear programme has been simmering since October. Pyongyang has since expelled UN nuclear inspectors.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: North Korea