says top priority is to continue to maintain maximum pressure against N. Korea......warns SLD18 audience:
"NorthKorea has been 'conciliatory and forthcoming' in the past, only to backtrack. 'I believe that it is important not to reward North Korea solely for agreeing to have a dialogue."
Repeatedly in his remarks, Japanese Defense Minister Onodera has mentioned the threat of N. Korea's ballistic missiles ..."of all flight ranges"....in other words, not just ICBMs.
"Anything short of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization is unacceptable."....A nuclear N. Korea is not only a regional threat, it poses a real and growing global threat."
calls for caution on N. Korea's recent pledges: "N. Korea has failed to deliver on its promises in the past."
fully supports" global sanctions against N. Korea, and calls for international cooperation to crack down on Pyongyang's sanctions evasion.
We cannot accept N. Korea as a nuclear state…the complete verifiable irreversible denuclearization of N. Korea is the only acceptable outcome."
This cycle has all been played out before. Nothing is really new (that is unless you’ve never followed North Korean issues before in detail sndcrely on Fox and CNN’s superficial reporting, then in that case this is all exciting and “new” I guess.
Ask Japan. They know.
I’d say to Tokyo...give this process exactly two months : **when**, not if, Pyongyang goes back in their word and starts to split hairs, renege, stand up meetings, block inspectors, shell game shift assets underground and develop nukes in other places, offshore to Iran etc etc (and not return Japan hostages nor take down IRBMs aimed at Japan) then proceed full measure with or without the US with nuclear weapon development and the means to deliver it upon the DPRK from Japan. I’d not rely on the US if I were them if we start to go down the same path as Clinton, Bush and Obongo.