Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa and the mayors of six towns and villages in the prefecture hosting nuclear power plants have called on Defense Minister Tomomi Inada to dispatch Self-Defense Forces personnel to the prefecture to guard Fukui's 15 reactors (including those being decommissioned) against a possible attack by North Korea.
"Ignoring international criticism, North Korea repeatedly launches missiles and conducts nuclear tests. On July 4, it launched a new type of missile, one that fell inside Japan's exclusive economic zone. The danger of an armed attack on Fukui's 15 reactors in the south of the prefecture, the largest number in Japan, is rising," Nishikawa and the mayors said in their request, presented to Inada by Nishikawa in Tokyo on Tuesday.
The defense minister was elected from a district in Fukui Prefecture.
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