PanARMENIAN.Net - Japan deployed its Patriot missile defence system on Saturday, August 12 after North Korea threatened to fire ballistic missiles over the country towards the US Pacific territory of Guam, local officials and reports said, according to AFP.
Regional tensions are mounting as Washington and Pyongyang ratchet up their war of words, with President Donald Trump warning Pyongyang would "truly regret" any hostile action against the US.
Japan has in the past vowed to shoot down North Korean missiles or rockets that threaten to hit its territory.
The defence ministry deployed the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) system in Shimane, Hiroshima and Kochi in western Japan, which North Korea had warned could be along its missiles' flight path, public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News said.
It also deployed the anti-missile system in neighbouring Ehime, according to the reports, while the Asahi Shimbun said one maritime Self-Defence Force Aegis destroyer was stationed in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) to shoot down airborne missiles.
Television footage showed military vehicles carrying launchers and other equipment for the surface-to-air system enterin...
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