About 90 percent of Japan's major train operators are prepared to halt services in the event of a government alert warning of an imminent threat from a North Korean ballistic missile, a Kyodo News survey showed Tuesday.
The move would freeze the country's public transport system, with experts saying it was both necessary to minimize potential damage from an attack but also disruptive.
Among the 31 major operators surveyed, 27 said they would halt services based on information provided by the government's satellite-based J-Alert system or a similar alert system called Em-Net.