Japan deploys destroyers for N Korea rocket

Japan on Thursday dispatched three destroyers to waters over which North Korea says its satellite-bearing rocket will travel.

Television footage showed three Aegis destroyers armed with SM-3 missile interceptors leaving their base in Sasebo, some 900 kilometres west of Tokyo.

They were reportedly bound for the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan, a stretch of water known to Koreans as the East Sea.

Separately, a naval ship carrying PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability-3) ballistic missiles arrived in the Okinawan island of Miyakojima on Thursday morning.

Television footage showed Self-Defence Force units unloading the missiles from the vessel at a harbour on the island, which lies on the expected flight path of the rocket.

In Tokyo, the defence ministry has deployed another PAC-3 battery at its headquarters as part of its effort to intercept anything headed towards the Japanese mainland.