Japan’s defence chief seeks local support to deploy a land-based missile shield
Itsunori Onodera travels to prefectures where he hopes to install systems to protect against North Korean attacks
Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera sought on Friday to win local consent to deploy a US land-based missile shield, though trips to the two prefectures where the system might be based featured opposition.
The government is pushing a plan to install the costly Aegis Ashore system in Akita and Yamaguchi prefectures to strengthen Japan’s defences against potential threats from North Korean nuclear arms or missiles, with the system operational perhaps by fiscal 2023.
But many residents around possible deployment sites have voiced concerns that the system’s radar, which emits strong radio waves, could be harmful to human health.
Some have also questioned the need for such a system given the continuing detente on the Korean peninsula following the first-ever US-North Korea summit meeting this month.
In a bid to win support to install the Aegis Ashore system, Onodera visited both Yamaguchi and Akita prefectures on Friday.
“Indeed, we are seeing some dialogue on the North Korean (nuclear) issue … but at this moment North Korea has several hundreds of ballistic missiles that can hit Japan and has not taken any concrete actions to give up its nuclear weapons,” Onodera told reporters in Tokyo before heading to Yamaguchi in western Japan.
“The threat we are facing has not changed.”