AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
TOKYO: Japan on Thursday downplayed the possibility of an imminent missile test by North Korea after its ally the United States warned of a response if Pyongyang carries out a long-range launch.
“We are not in an extremely serious situation,” Foreign Minister Taro Aso said when asked about the string of the reports that North Korea is planning to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga told a separate news conference: “Our battleships and airplanes are regularly monitoring the situation and will continue to do so.”
South Korea, which has been reconciling with its estranged northern neighbor, warned Wednesday that a missile test would set back deadlocked efforts to resolve the Korean nuclear crisis.
US Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow warned of an “appropriate” response if Pyongyang goes ahead with a test.
North Korea declared last year that it had nuclear weapons and has been boycotting six-nation talks on the standoff since November in protest of US financial sanctions.
It would be the first time in eight years that North Korea tested a long-range missile which could one day hit the mainland United States, although Pyongyang has tested shorter range missiles.
In 1998, North Korea fired a missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean and later called it a satellite launch, leading Japan and the United States to hurry to build a missile defense system.
