Tokyo: The Japanese government on Friday issued an interception order in anticipation of North Korea's repeated firing of missiles.
Sources said the order was issued to the Self-Defence Forces to shoot down any incoming ballistic missile or debris, public broadcaster NHK reported. North Korea fired two mid-range ballistic missiles earlier on Friday.
The North's state media reported on Tuesday that the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, gave the order to prepare soon for nuclear warhead explosion tests and test firings of several kinds of ballistic missiles.
The Self-Defence Forces are considering sending Aegis destroyers fitted with sophisticated radar to patrol waters around Japan, as well as deploying surface-to-air PAC3 interceptor missile systems.
