Japan, US to cooperate for N Korea's rocket launch

Japan is considering cooperating with the US military in order to prepare for a rocket launch planned by North Korea next month. The North announced last week that it will fire a rocket carrying a satellite between April 12 and 16, according to Japan's (NHK WORLD) website. It is expected that flying debris will pass over the Japanese southern islands of Sakishima and that they would fall into the sea off the Philippines. In April, 2009, the US military's early warning satellite system detected a rocket launched by North Korea. The US military reportedly gave the information to the Japanese Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces. The data was collected by US Aegis-equipped destroyers and the Ground Based X-Band Radar in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan. The systems can track and destroy enemy targets in case of emergency. The Japanese defense ministry plans to discuss ways of sharing information with the US military. The ministry will make other preparations. They include deploying its Aegis-equipped destroyers and the land-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC3, missile defense system in the region.