Japan Withdraws PAC-3 Units on Lower Risk of N. Korean Missile Firing

July 31, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's Defense Ministry withdrew Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3, ground-based missile interceptors, judging that the risk of North Korea firing ballistic missiles has gone down, officials have said.

The PAC-3 units of the Air Self-Defense Force were deployed in the western prefectures of Hiroshima, Shimane, Ehime and Kochi after North Korea revealed a Guam-targeting missile launch plan in August 2017, and in Hokkaido, following Pyongyang's firing of ballistic missiles over the northern prefecture later in the same year.

Another PAC-3 system placed at the ministry in Tokyo was also transferred to its home facility, according to the officials.

The ministry plans to redeploy PAC-3 units depending on the North Korean situation, while keeping intact the missile destruction order, issued in August 2016. Jiji Press