Japan will launch by fiscal 2002 four information-gathering satellites that can also be used for reconnaissance purposes, according to a decision reached at Friday's Cabinet meeting, officials said.
The decision is a result of North Korea's firing of a rocket on Aug. 31 in which stages of it passed through Japanese airspace on the way to the Pacific.
The government plans to allocate funds for the research and development of the information satellites in a third supplementary budget for fiscal 1998 and in the forthcoming fiscal 1999 budget, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka told a news conference following the meeting.