Visiting US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday that Washington would deploy two more Aegis-equipped destroyers to Japan by 2017 against threats from North Korean missiles, according to dpa. Hagel's announcement came after Pyongyang test-fired two missiles into the waters east of the Korean Peninsula in late March, when the leaders of Japan, the US and South Korea criticized the North's nuclear weapons programme. On Sunday, Hagel also welcomed Japan's decision last week to ease its arms-export controls for the first time in nearly 50 years. Hagel and Japan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera agreed that their two nations oppose China's declaration of an air defence identification zone over the East China Sea.
