Japan Today:
The mayor of a town in Yamaguchi Prefecture says he opposes the installation of an Aegis Ashore missile defense battery after the municipality was named as a potential host site in May.
“I clearly express my opposition to the deployment,” said Abu Mayor Norihiko Hanada at a plenary session of the town assembly, which unanimously adopted earlier in the day a petition calling on the Defense Ministry to retract its Aegis Ashore deployment plan.
Hanada is the first municipal leader of a potential host site to officially oppose deployment of the anti-ballistic missile defense system.
“(The site) is close to a residential area and it goes against our policy of building a town that cares for nature and people,” he said. “It is the responsibility of the town mayor to remove any threat to their safety.”
The Defense Ministry, which intends to deploy two batteries to counter the threat of North Korean missiles, has listed as candidate sites a Ground Self-Defense Force training area straddling Abu and Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and another exercise area in the city of Akita in northeastern Japan…
