SOUTH Korea and Japan have vowed to shoot down any debris from a planned North Korean satellite launch this month that falls on their territory.

South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun said yesterday that his country would fire missiles to intercept the North Korean rocket or its fragments if they threaten to fall on its soil.

Japan’s defence minister said on Wednesday that he had issued a missile-shoot-down order and deployed missile defence units around Tokyo and Okinawa in case debris came down there.