Japan readies defences for North Korea rocket launch

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan on Friday ordered its military to prepare to intercept any dangerous debris that might fall on its territory if a missile launch planned by North Korea goes wrong.

Pyongyang has said it will launch a communications satellite between April 4 - 8, but regional powers believe the real purpose is to test a long-range missile, the Taepodong-2, which is believed to be already in place on its launch pad.

"I have issued an order ... to prepare to destroy any object that might fall on Japan as a result of an accident involving a flying object from North Korea," Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters after a meeting of Japan's Security Council.

North Korea has said any attempt to shoot down the rocket itself would be an act of war.

Hamada reiterated Japan's call for the reclusive state to cancel the launch and said Tokyo would do everything it could to protect the Japanese people. But he stressed that Japan would only act if the object threatened to fall on its territory.

In its only previous test flight in 2006, the Taepodong-2 either blew up or self-destructed after failing just 40 seconds into launch.

CHANCES OF FALLOUT ARE "SLIM"

Japanese government officials say the chances of debris falling on its territory were slim and have called on the public not to panic.

Top nuclear envoys from Japan, South Korea and the United States were to meet in Washington on Friday in a signal of growing concern over the launch, the first big test for U.S. President Barack Obama in dealing with the prickly North.

Japan and the United States have warned the test will violate U.N. resolutions imposed on Pyongyang.

Japan's constitution does not allow the military to intercept a missile if it is clearly heading elsewhere, but Tokyo would try to shoot down a missile aimed at Japanese territory or intercept any debris.

North Korea has given international agencies notice that the rocket's planned trajectory should take it over Japan, dropping booster stages to its east and west.

Japan is expected to move ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors to northern Japan, which lies under the rocket's trajectory, and deploy two Aegis-equipped destroyers with Standard Missile-3 interceptors to the Sea of Japan.

Washington has said it could with "high probability" intercept any North Korean missile heading for U.S. territory if ordered to do so.

SERIOUS CHALLENMGE TO REGIONAL SECURITY

South Korea said the launch would be a serious challenge to security in north Asia, which accounts for one sixth of the global economy.

Growing tension on the Korean peninsula is also beginning to worry financial markets in the South, although so far there has been only minor impact.

"If they really fire something, it would definitely shake the financial markets, but only briefly, as has been the case in many previous cases of provocation and clashes," said Jung Sung-min, a fixed-income analyst at Eugene Futures.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a visit to Mexico earlier this week, said the launch would deal a blow to six-party talks to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

Those talks sputtered to a halt in December over disagreement on how to check the North was disabling its nuclear facilities.

North Korea warned that any action by the U.N. Security Council to punish it would be a "hostile act."

North Korea faces a range of U.N. sanctions and many analysts doubt new ones would get past China -- the nearest Pyongyang has to a powerful ally -- in the Security Council.

China, sticking to its low-key approach, said it hoped all "relevant parties will remain restrained and calm."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also cautioned the international community against making rash decisions.

"Do not try to make evaluations before events have occurred," he said in Moscow, while noting U.N. Security Council resolutions should be adhered to.

A successful launch would be a huge boost at home to leader Kim Jong-il, whose illness last year -- widely thought to have been a stroke -- has raised questions over his grip on power.

(Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by David Fox)