Tokyo considering 'new course' to counter ballistic missile threat

摘要

Amid North Korea's growing ballistic missile capabilities outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on 11 September that Tokyo is considering what he described as a "new course" for its security policy on "countering missiles". Abe, who tendered his resignation last month for health-related reasons and was succeeded as prime minister by Yoshihide Suga on 16 September, said in a statement that, in the wake of Tokyo's cancellation of the deployment of two Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defence systems in Japan, the government has begun "examining possible alternatives ... so as to ensure that Japan has an interception capability to defend itself from [the] threats of ballistic missiles and others".