Defense chief apologizes to Yamaguchi Prefecture for Aegis errors

July 3, 2019

Yamaguchi--Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya visited the prefectural government of Yamaguchi, western Japan, on Wednesday to apologize for using flawed data when giving explanations about a possible deployment location in the prefecture for the Aegis Ashore land-based missile defense system.

"We've created confusion and misunderstandings," Iwaya said to Yamaguchi Governor Tsugumasa Muraoka and others. "We're very sorry for causing worry."

In May, the Defense Ministry explained to the prefecture its plan to possibly deploy the defense system to the Ground Self-Defense Force' Mutsumi training area in Hagi, Yamaguchi. But information given by the ministry on the altitudes of elevated areas near the site differed from those published by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan.

The minister also met with Norihiko Hanada, mayor of the town of Abu, which neighbors Mutsumi training area.

Hanada called on Iwaya to abandon the deployment plan, saying, "Our town's all-out opposition remains completely unchanged."

Iwaya reiterated that his ministry will conduct field surveys jointly with private entities to gather accurate data.

"We'd like to examine the data carefully and make efforts to win the residents' understanding," he said.

On June 17, Iwaya made an apology to Norihisa Satake, governor of Akita Prefecture, for flawed data also found in the ministry's explanatory materials for a candidate site for deploying the Aegis Ashore system in the northeastern Japan prefecture. Jiji Press