TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is planning a ballistic missile defence test in cooperation with the United States in November, the Defence Ministry said on Monday, as fears rise over North Korea's plans to restore its main atomic complex.
North Korea's firing of a ballistic missile over Japan in1998 spurred Japan to build a missile defence shield incooperation with Washington, its most important ally.
Japanese navy personnel aboard the newly upgraded destroyerChokai will use an SM-3 missile to try to shoot down a dummyballistic missile in space over the Pacific near Hawaii,Japan's Defence Ministry said on Monday.
A similar test using the equipment supplied by LockheedMartin Corp and Raytheon last December went smoothly.
The announcement comes days after Japan succeeded in usinga PAC-3 land-based anti-ballistic missile interceptor tointercept a dummy missile at White Sands, New Mexico.
In another move underlining its alliance with Tokyo, theUnited States is to post a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier atthe naval port of Yokosuka from this week.
Tokyo's concerns over the potential threat from Pyongyanghave come to the fore again in recent weeks, after reports thatNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-il had fallen sick, potentiallydestabilising the country.
On Monday, a senior diplomat said seals had been taken offNorth Korea's main nuclear plant at Yongbyong, after Pyongyangsaid last month it would re-start the complex, the basis of itsatomic bomb programme.
North Korea was also reported this month to have conductedtests at a new missile launch facility in the west of thecountry.
(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Valerie Lee)
