Japan has halted a high-profile upgrade to its defences against a possible missile attack by North Korea after the Aegis Ashore project was hit by rising costs, technical problems and public unease.
The acquisition of the US-built land-based missile defence shield was part of a pledge made by Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe to President Donald Trump three years ago as Tokyo sought to upgrade its defence capabilities.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Japan’s defence minister Taro Kono said he was halting the deployment of Aegis Ashore to Yamaguchi and Akita prefectures “in light of the cost and the timeframe”. He said the system would need expensive hardware modifications to deal with the risk of rocket boosters falling in civilian areas.
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