

KYODO / Tuesday December 16, 2:22 AM
The government has decided to earmark 90 billion yen to 100 billion yen for a missile defense system in fiscal 2004, down sharply from 142.3 billion yen as requested by the Defense Agency, a Japanese business daily reported Tuesday... the reduction is due to the yen's appreciation.......The government will hold a meeting as early as Friday and confirm its plans to introduce the missile defense system, which is composed of U.S.-made missile systems