US destroyers for Japan amid North Korea ‘threat’
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THE US is to send two additional ballistic missile destroyers to Japan to counter the “North Korean threat,” US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced in Tokyo yesterday.
The announcement came as North Korea continued to threaten additional missile and nuclear tests. In recent weeks, it has conducted a series of rocket and ballistic missile launches considered a protest against springtime military exercises by South Korea and the US. North Korea says the exercises are rehearsals for invasion.
The two Koreas fired hundreds of artillery shells into each other’s waters in late March in the most recent flare-up.
Hagel said the two ships are in response to North Korea’s “pattern of provocative and destabilizing actions” that violate UN resolutions and will also provide more protection to the US from those threats.
Last Friday, North Korea accused the US of being “hell-bent on regime change” and warned that any maneuvers with that intention will be viewed as a “red line” that will result in countermeasures.
Pyongyang’s deputy UN ambassador Ri Tong Il also said his government “made it very clear we will carry out a new form of nuclear test” but refused to give details.
The two additional ships would bring the total of US ballistic missile defense warships in Japan to seven, and it continues US efforts to increase its focus on the Asia Pacific.
The ships serve as both defensive and offensive weapons. They carry sophisticated systems that can track missile launches, and their SM-3 missiles can zero in on and take out short to medium-range missiles that might be fired at the US or allied nations. They can also carry Tomahawk cruise missiles, which can be launched from sea and hit high-value targets or enemy weapons systems from afar, without risking pilots or aircraft.
Hagel is on a 10-day trip across the Asia Pacific, and has spent three days in Hawaii meeting with Southeast Asian defense ministers, talking about efforts to improve defense and humanitarian assistance cooperation. Japan is his second stop.
Hagel, who will travel to China later this week, said he looks forward to having an honest, straightforward dialogue with Chinese officials about ways the two nations and their militaries can work better together.
The ships are just the latest move in America’s effort to beef up Japan’s defenses. Last October, the US and Japan agreed to broad plans to expand their defense alliance, including the decision to position a second early warning radar there by the end of this year.
There is one in northern Japan and the second one would be designed to provide better missile defense coverage.
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