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Japan will strike any North Korean missile deemed dangerous

Japan's defense minister issued an order this week to prepare for any additional missile launches from North Korea, following Pyongyang's recent test of a medium-range missile and its exchange of live artillery rounds with South Korea.

 will strike any North Korean ballistic missile that threatens to hit  in the coming weeks after  recently fired medium-range missiles, a government source said on Saturday.

Defense Minister  issued the order, which took effect on Thursday and runs through April 25, the day that marks the founding of , the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Following the order, meant "to prepare for any additional missile launches," a destroyer was dispatched to the Sea of  and will fire if  launches a missile that  deems in danger of striking or falling on Japanese territory, the source said.

Tensions have been building between  and its neighbours since  – in an apparent show of defiance – fired two Rodong missiles on March 26, just as the leaders of ,Ìý and the were sitting down to discuss containing the North Korean nuclear threat.

That first firing in four years of mid-range missiles that can hit  followed a series of short-range rocket launches over the past two months. The Rodong ballistic missiles fell into the sea after flying 650 km (400 miles), short of a maximum range thought to be some 1,300 km,ÌýÌý²õ²¹¾±»å.

Since then,Ìý has rattled sabres by firing artillery rounds into South Korean waters, prompting the South to fire back;  has test-fired a new ballistic missile with a range of 500 km; and  has threatened an unspecified "new form" of nuclear test.

At the same time,ÌýÌý²¹²Ô»åÌý resumed talks - suspended since  test-launched a long-range missile more than a year ago - over the North's nuclear and missile programmes, as well as the fate of Japanese abducted in the 1970s and 1980s to help train North Korean spies.

Onodera has avoided publicly announcing the new missile-intercept order so as not to put a chill on those talks, Japanese media said.

He also did not deploy Patriot missile batteries that would be the last line of defence against incoming warheads, the source told Reuters.

Japanese Aegis destroyers in the Sea of  are equipped with advanced radar equipment able to track multiple targets and carry missiles designed to take out targets at the edge of space.

Writing by Tim Kelly and William Mallard