Japan mobilises troops amid warning of impending North Korean attack

Now, with an attack feared imminent, Japanese naval destroyers and anti-ballistic missile Patriot batteries have been ordered to shoot down incoming missiles.

Japanese broadcaster NHK also reports the country’s military is on high alert, with one government official confirming the elevated threat level.

A missile striking Japan has global implications, with America pledged to join the fight against attackers, raising the prospect of war.

The Japanese Ministry for Defence, like its counterpart in South Korea, has declined to comment on the missile threat.

Yet both nations are regularly threatened with war by North Korea, with the South also menaced with invasion.

Since launching a nuclear test in January, Pyongyang has heaved increasingly belligerently towards its enemies around the world.

Japan has already put its anti-ballistic missile forces on alert twice this year and has deployed naval ships to intercept any attack.

The vessels, equipped with Aegis defence systems, are armed with SM-3 missiles designed to destroy warheads in space before they reach their targets.

While Japan’s ground defences, which are deployed around Tokyo and other key sites, use PAC-3 missiles designed to destroy warheads closer to the ground.

North Korea has invested heavily in its missile programme and its reach now extends beyond Japan and into the Pacific.

(dailystar.co.uk)