US stands by Japan over N. Korea

WASHINGTON—The United States on Friday voiced support for ally Japan after the officially pacifist country said it would shoot down a North Korean rocket if the planned launch poses a threat.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner dismissed a question on whether Japan’s statement would aggravate the situation, saying: “Let’s be very clear – it’s the intentions stated by North Korea that are elevating tensions.”

“We consult extremely closely with Japan and with our other allies in the region,” Toner told reporters.

“We’re certainly understanding of their concerns, which is why we’ve been so vocal about… telling North Korea that this planned launch is a mistake, that they should back away from it, and that it’s jeopardizing the Leap Year agreement,” Toner said.

He was referring to an agreement announced on February 29 under which North Korea said it would freeze nuclear and missile tests and the United States offered food aid for the impoverished communist state.

With the ink barely dry, North Korea announced it would launch a “satellite” between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding president Kim Il-Sung.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s cabinet on Friday gave the green light for Japanese forces to shoot down the rocket if it threatens the country’s territory.

Japan has never fired a shot in anger since World War II, when the United States forced the defeated country to renounce the right to wage war. Some 47,000 troops are stationed in Japan under a security alliance.

North Korea in 1998 stunned the world by firing a rocket over Japan’s main island of Honshu into the Pacific Ocean. It also tested long-range missiles in 2006 and 2009, but US analysts considered the launches to be failures.

If North Korea goes ahead with the latest launch, the rocket is expected to take a different route and may go near Japan’s southern island of Okinawa on its way to waters near the Philippines.