The government has begun discussing how the Self-Defense Forces would respond to a military conflict on the Korean Peninsula, government sources said Saturday amid tensions with internationally condemned North Korea.

The National Security Council will examine specific scenarios including an inadvertent clash between North and South Korean forces, a pre-emptive U.S. strike on North Korea, an invasion of South Korea by the North, and Japan being hit by a North Korean missile, the sources said.

While the Defense Ministry and other government offices are already studying potential responses, the NSC, chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will lead the discussions going forward, they said.