YAMAGUCHI: Defense Minister KONO Taro visited Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, on Friday to apologize to local communities for the government’s decision to suspend the planned deployment of the Aegis Ashore land-based missile defense system there.

“We deeply apologize for reaching a conclusion like this,” Kono said at a meeting with Yamaguchi Governor Tsugumasa Muraoka at the prefectural government’s office.

The government made the decision due to the danger of a booster separated from an interceptor missile falling onto a residential area.

The governor criticized the central government for failing to detect earlier a danger that was “directly linked to residents’ lives.”

The Aegis Ashore deployment plan “has caused an unnecessary divide among local residents,” said Kenji Fujimichi, mayor of the Yamaguchi city of Hagi, who also attended the meeting.

Last year, the Defense Ministry picked a Ground Self-Defense Force training area in Hagi and the neighboring town of Abu as a candidate site for the Aegis Ashore system.

In late May this year, however, the ministry learned through talks with the United States that it would take about 12 years and cost over 200 billion yen to revise the system to ensure that missile boosters would fall within the GSDF training area.

Then on Monday, Kono announced the decision to halt the Aegis Ashore deployment program.

On Sunday, Kono is slated to visit Akita Prefecture, where the ministry also planned to deploy the Aegis Ashore system.

JIJI Press