Japan watches North Korean missile moves

Japan has dispatched ships and planes to monitor North Korea amid regional jitters about a possible long-range missile launch.

But Japan has played down the communist nation’s capacity to possibly load a nuclear warhead on its rockets.

“At this point, we have encountered information that indicates North Korea has the technology,” said Senior Vice Foreign Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki.

“It requires tremendous technology to miniaturise an atomic weapon in order to load into a missile warhead.”

Also speaking at a parliamentary committee meeting on terrorism, Defence Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga confirmed his agency had deployed naval ships and patrol planes to monitor developments in North Korea, as the country apparently prepares to test a long-range missile believed capable of reaching the United States.