(3 Apr 2012) 1. Wide of Japanese warships anchored at Pyeongtaek South Korea during a cruise training for midshipmen of Japan's maritime self-defence force
2. Japanese national flag
3. Wide of cannons on Japanese destroyer Kurama
4. Wide of Kurama
5. Navy sailors saluting
6. Low angle of Kurama
7. Soldiers on dock
8. Wide of warship
9. Various of weapons on ship
10. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Kazuhisa Imuta, CDR Commander of Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force: ++Audio partly overlaid with previous shots++
"The training is to improve the seamanship of graduate students from executive schools, who are now new ensigns, by a long-term sailing training. It also aims to enlarge their experience by training skills and knowledge on the site and improving relationships with the countries we visit."
11. Various of control room
12. Top shot of another warship, Yamagiri
13. Navy personnel working on Yamagiri
14. Tilt down from deck to evacuation boat
15. Various of helicopter inside Kurama
16. Wide of helicopters' landing area
17. Observatory tower of warship
18. Kurama and Yamagiri
STORYLINE
Japanese warships have docked in South Korea's Pyeongtaek port, as a long-range rocket is expected to be launched by North Korea later this month.
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force has said the warships have travelled to South Korea as a pat of a training exercise designed for the navy soldiers.
Destroyers Kurama and Yamagiri left Japan on March 20 and are currently on a trip which will last 43 days until May 1.
South Korea is the first destination before their next visit to Singapore, according to Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force.
About five hundred personnel were on board the warships.
The training comes after Japan's defence minister ordered missile units to intercept the long-range rocket expected to be launched by North Korea if the rocket or its fragments threaten to hit Japan.
The Unha-3 rocket is expected to fly past western Japan after its launch from North Korea's west coast sometime between April 12 and 16.
The plan has raised concerns that a failed launch, or a falling stage of the rocket, could endanger Japanese lives or property.
A statement from the Defence Ministry has said Japan would send destroyers equipped with Aegis missile defence systems to the Pacific and East China Sea and deploy mobile Patriot missile launchers in Okinawa.
An interceptor missile unit is also likely to be deployed in Tokyo, although the capital is far from the expected flight path.
North Korea has said the launch will send a satellite into orbit to study its crops and natural resources.
Japan, the United States and other countries claim the launch is a cover for testing long-range missiles, in violation of international agreements.
Japan mobilised its interceptor units but did not follow through when North Korea launched a rocket in 2009.
Interceptor missiles on the Japanese destroyers would be the first line of defence, and the land-based Patriot missiles would be a backup.
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