TOKYO—Japan’s Defense Ministry said on June 22 that it has decided to stop unpopular plans to deploy two land-based U.S. missile defense systems aimed at bolstering the country’s capability against threats from North Korea.
Defense Minister Taro Kono told reporters that he decided to “stop the deployment process” of the Aegis Ashore systems after it was found that the safety of one of the two planned host communities couldn’t be ensured without a hardware redesign that would be too time-consuming and costly.
