Japan launches spy satellites to counter North Korean threat
Telegraph.co.uk (23/03/2003)
...The launch of two satellites, scheduled for Friday from Tanegashima island in western Japan, is a new departure for the country's space agency, which has previously confined itself to commercial and scientific missions....Japan's defence minister, Shigeru Ishiba, said last month that Tokyo would be willing to launch a pre-emptive strike if it were clear that North Korea was preparing to launch a missile at Japan....Military experts, however, say that the Japanese armed forces are unable to mount such a strike. North Korean missile launch-sites are at the outer edge of the range of Japan's F-15 fighter bombers, which are incapable of mid-flight refuelling.
