Japan to buy US missile defence system

Japan said yesterday it would buy a US-made missile defence system and conduct a review of its defence capabilities in a move that could unnerve other Asian countries.

Domestic support for the introduction of a missile defence system, mooted since North Korea sent a ballistic missile over Japan in 1998, has grown over the past year because of Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda announced the decision to endorse a Defence Agency proposal on missile defence after a meeting of Japan's Security Council.

"There is no intent to harm other countries. This is a completely defensive system," Fukuda told a news conference.

The government planned to complete the defence review and a medium-term defence equipment plan by the end of 2004, he said, giving no details on the review, other than to say it would take into account the current security environment.

One topic may be Japan's self-imposed ban on arms exports, which must be modified if Tokyo wants to push ahead with its joint development of a next-generation missile defence system with the United States.

Fukuda told reporters on Thursday that the ban was a subject for future discussion.

The first stage of the two-part missile defence system Japan intends to buy consists of Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) systems that could be fired at missiles in mid-course from Japan's four existing high-tech Aegis destroyers.