
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 18, 1993                   TAG: 9309180107
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: TOKYO                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. DISCUSSES MISSILE DEFENSE FOR JAPANESE

Concerned about North Korea's recent tests of a new generation of missiles, Japan and the United States have begun discussions about developing and deploying a new antimissile system on Japan soil to deter short-range attacks.

Preliminary talks about combining technological talents to build the system, which would be a major expansion of the postwar military relationship between the two countries, were held this week in Honolulu. But Japanese officials say they expect to receive a fuller American proposal next week during a visit to Tokyo by John M. Deutch, the Pentagon's undersecretary for acquisition and technology.

American and Japanese officials say the new system may include major improvements on an existing antimissile system, like the Patriot, combined with some kind of satellite detection system that would warn of an attack.

Japan's only missile defense is an aging first-generation Patriot missile system. More advanced versions of the Patriot, the kind used with mixed success against Iraqi attacks in the Persian Gulf War, are not scheduled for deployment until around 1995. Most experts say it would not be very effective against the newly developed North Korean missile, the Rodong 1.

The plan could pose some very tough decisions for the coalition government headed by Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa. The largest party in the coalition, the Socialists, have historically opposed any expansion of the powers of the Japanese military and never recognized Japan's 33-year-old security pact with the United States.

Military experts in Japan say that an advanced missile defense system could raise additional political problems. The Japanese government always has shied away from making use of any kind of satellite detection system - which it has rejected as a violation of its self-imposed ban on using space for military purposes. The country has no spy satellites of its own; it relies almost entirely on the United States for satellite intelligence.

In Washington, a senior Defense Department official said this week that Deutch would try to lay the groundwork for an agreement in which Japan would develop its own antimissile defense, known as a theater missile defense system, with American assistance.

by CNB