16 minutes ago
TOKYO (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tokyo on the first stop of a four-nation tour to rally pressure on North Korea after it tested an atom bomb.
Rice said she would use her talks in Japan and South Korea to reconfirm their security alliances with the United States.
"The way to deal with the security threat it poses is to draw on the very strong alliances that we have with South Korea and Japan on which they can fully rely for their security from this specific threat," Rice told reporters on her plane.
Rice is due later to visit South Korea, China and Russia -- the other countries involved in stalled six-way talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program.
The top US diplomat, spearheading a drive to contain the Stalinist nation, is pushing a US-led stop-and-search programme designed to cut off any trade in illicit weaponry.
The diplo speak of "on which they can fully rely for their security from this specific threat" is very easily translated. The USA will respond to, and eliminate any hostile act. While interdicting DPRK commerce. Game on.
Thanks for the latest, ARMSF. Hopefully this will all blow over....minus any radiation detections. sigh
I'm headin' to bed now. Don't let the world end without letting me know. ;)