Some of the roughly 1,000 Self-Defense Forces personnel deployed in Okinawa Prefecture to respond to North Korea's rocket launch began returning to their bases Saturday morning, after the launch ended in failure the previous day.

The troops started preparing to return after Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka lifted his order to intercept debris from the rocket, or the rocket itself, if it appeared to pose a danger to Japanese territory.

All SDF personnel deployed in Okinawa will pull out by Thursday, along with their ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile batteries.