Tokyo is considering deploying both its ballistic missile interceptor warships to the Sea of Japan ahead of a possible test launch of North Korea's longest-range missile, Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday.
North Korea has racked up tensions in past weeks with what is believed to be preparations for a test flight of its Taepodong-2 missile, capable of striking US soil, in what is seen as a move to put pressure on Washington to review its Pyongyang policies.
North Korea has said it was preparing to launch a satellite and it had the right to do so as a part of a peaceful space programme.
If preparations become more active, Japan will send two naval destroyers with high-tech Aegis radar systems and Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors to the Sea of Japan, between Japan and the Korean peninsula, Kyodo quoted a defence ministry official as saying.
Japan will be cooperating with U.S. forces, Kyodo quoted the official as saying. The US has also stationed anti-ballistic missile ships in Japan.
A spokesman for Japan's Defence Ministry said nothing had been decided as yet.
{{/usCountry}}A spokesman for Japan's Defence Ministry said nothing had been decided as yet.
{{/usCountry}}Prime Minister Taro Aso indicated earlier this week that Japan should be able to use its missile defence capabilities even if North Korea insists that it is launching a satellite, domestic media reported.
Failure to shoot down a target could undermine faith in Japan's defence system, which was introduced with U.S. help after North Korea fired a missile over the country in 1998, stunning the region.
Apart from SM-3s, which are designed to shoot missiles down in the mid-phase of flight, Japan has a second layer of defence in the form of land-based PAC-3 interceptors, positioned at military bases mostly close to Tokyo.
A missile heading towards the United States from North Korea would likely be travelling too high for Japan's SM-3s to shoot down, officials have said.
Last November, a Japanese warship failed to shoot down a ballistic missile target in a joint test with U.S. forces because of a glitch in the final stage of an interceptor.