Japan says it will shoot down N. Korea rocket over territory
Tokyo (CNN) -- Japan will shoot down any part of the long-range rocket that North Korea plans to launch next month that enters its territory, the Japanese defense minister, Naoki Tanaka, said Friday.
Speaking at a news conference, Tanaka said he had issued the official order after instructing the Japanese military earlier in the week to prepare the country's missile defense shield against the planned rocket launch.
North Korea announced earlier this month that it would launch a rocket carrying a satellite between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of the Communist state.
SNIP
Japan says its military, known as the Self-Defense Forces, has begun preparations to deploy ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors in the Tokyo metropolitan area, as well as the Okinawa, Ishigaki and Miyako islands.
The defense ministry says three Aegis-equipped destroyers carrying sea-based Standard Missile-3 interceptors will also be deployed to the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/30/world/asia/japan-north-korea-rocket/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
In looking to see if this article was already posted, I saw that Japan threatened to do to the same thing in 2009 and North Korea of course threatened to go to war against Japan if they did shoot down the rocket. So this just sounds like more talk, but North Korea DOES have a new leader, so who knows how he'll react to Japan's latest threat.