. | . |
Japan, US Try To Boost Construction Of Missile Shield
Japan and the United States signed an agreement Friday to facilitate the building of a ballistic missile defense system for Japan amid growing concern over North Korea. Defense Agency Director-General Yoshinori Ono and US Ambassador Howard Baker signed the agreement a week after Japan ended its decades-old ban on military exports -- but only to the United States for the defense system. Tokyo and Washington began to study a missile interception shield after North Korea shocked the world in 1998 by firing a long-range Taepodong-1 missile over Japan. But the previous ban prevented Japan from exporting missile components to the United States and each exchange of information to develop the shield had to be authorized by a diplomatic agreement between the two allies. Under the memorandum of understanding signed Friday, Japan and the United States will form a committee to share information and do away with the lengthy paperwork for the research. North Korea on Wednesday warned Japan that it would consider it to be an act of war if Tokyo imposed economic sanctions in a dispute over Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese nationals during the Cold War. Japan has promised to take account of concerns of the United States and other countries which have told Tokyo that sanctions on unpredictable North Korea could backfire. A US test for a future missile shield failed on Wednesday when an interceptor missile failed to go off during the exercise in the Pacific Ocean. Japanese government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda said Thursday that the failure would not affect plans to build a shield for Japan as the two systems were different. All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express U.S. Allies Look At Missle Defense Washington (UPI) Dec 17 2004 The failed test of the U.S. missile defense system on Wednesday has not kept the Bush administration from trying to sell the idea to as many potential buyers from Canada to Russia as it can find.
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. |