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TOKYO, March 29, 2009 (AFP) - Japan's military has deployed Patriot guided-missile units in and around Tokyo ahead of a North Korean rocket launch due next month, the defence ministry said Sunday.
Two Patriot missile launchers are in place in front of the defence ministry building in downtown Tokyo, ministry officials said.
The cannon barrels are pointing towards air space in the northwest, where a rocket due to be launched by North Korea between April 4 and 8 is expected to pass through.
Pyongyang has said it will launch a communications satellite over northern parts of Japanese territory, but the United States and its Asian allies suspect the launch is a cover for a ballistic missile test.
Other missile units have been deployed in stations of the Ground and Air Self-Defence Forces in Saitama, north of Tokyo, and Chiba, southeast of the capital, the officials said.
Japan's military was also transferring units to northern Japan, while two destroyers have set sail for the Sea of Japan (East Sea) to prepare to intercept a North Korean rocket, the officials said.
North Korea has warned that the rocket's first booster would likely plunge into the Sea of Japan off Japan's northern Akita prefecture, while the second stage would drop into the Pacific between Japan and Hawaii.
Japan has repeatedly urged Pyongyang to refrain from the launch, warning it would be a breach of past UN resolutions, while the North has said it would regard a rocket intercept as an act of war.
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