Stars and Stripes:

Equipment and personnel arrived Sunday at Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost inhabited island, a day after the country’s defense minister ordered the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3, missile-defense system to be deployed there.

The move follows North Korea’s announcement Wednesday of its final preparations to launch a “military surveillance satellite,” according to a Japan Defense Ministry statement on Saturday. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has issued an order to launch multiple satellites once the preparations are finished, the statement said. A launch date has not been specified.

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered the Air Self-Defense Force to prepare for the possibility of a ballistic missile flying over Japan, and the Maritime Self-Defense Force to deploy destroyers equipped with SM-3 missiles. The Standard Missile 3 is used by Japan and the United States as part of the Aegis system to destroy short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles, according to Raytheon, its U.S. manufacturer.

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