Pyongyang has stepped up weapons tests in recent months, raising tensions with Seoul and Washington.
This time around, it was Japan that said it had ordered its military to prepare to shoot down a North Korean ballistic missile that Pyongyang needs to launch its first military reconnaissance spy satellite into orbit.
Japanese Minister Yasukazu Hamada has asked the country's troops to "
implement the necessary measures to limit the damage in the event of a ballistic missile fall
", according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense.
Preparations include the deployment of destroyers equipped with SM-3 missile interceptors, the implementation of military units in Okinawa Prefecture (south), operational for Patriot PAC-3 type missiles.
According to North Korea's state news agency on Wednesday, Kim Jong Un ordered the launch of his first military reconnaissance spy satellite without specifying when the launch would take place.
Putting this satellite into orbit would require the use of a long-range projectile, the launch of which is considered by the United Nations as a ballistic missile test which North Korea has, in theory, not the right to use.
In 2012 and 2016, North Korea conducted ballistic missile tests that Pyongyang called satellite launches.
Both missiles had flown over the Okinawa region.
According to Japanese media, the country's Defense Ministry announced the same preparations in 2012.
