Posted on 09/11/2001 9:38:15 AM PDT by capitoltex
U.S. officials on Friday warned American citizens in Japan and South Korea to be on alert following a report of an unconfirmed terrorist threat against the U.S. military in the Pacific.
“It’s a caution to American citizens simply because there was a threat directed at the American military and the places that they gather,” U.S. Embassy spokesman Patrick Linehan said Saturday.
Linehan described the threat as “credible” but did not provide details such as when or where a possible attack might occur. He also did not say when the warning would be lifted.
Terrorist warnings are rare in Japan, Linehan said.
There are about 48,000 U.S. troops in Japan and 37,000 in South Korea, all of whom are covered by the warning. About 120,000 Americans live in Japan, according to the embassy, including active military members. About 70,000 Americans live in South Korea, the U.S. military has said.
A worldwide caution issued in June to all Americans overseas was being revised to include the new information about the Asia threat, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
“It needs to reflect the fact a little more specifically that there is a potential threat in Asia,” Boucher said.
The Threatcon level at Osan Air Base, South Korea, and Yokota Air Base west of Tokyo remained at Alpha Saturday. U.S. military officials were unavailable Saturday to comment.
The threat could be a warning preceding an October visit to Japan by President Bush, a professor says.
Toshiyuki Shikata, a national security professor at Teikyo University in Tokyo and a former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general, said he thinks the threat may be from one of two terrorist groups: a militant Islamic group or a group trying to cause chaos.
If they’re Islamic terrorists, “they are not happy about Israel’s hawkish attitudes in the Middle East and the [United States], which supports Israel,” he said.
Ways terrorists may attack include bombing, chemical and biological warfare, cyber terrorism, or targeting of nuclear power plants, he said.
It would be difficult to attack U.S. installations in Japan because of strict access to base, and the Japanese police have tight control on firearms smuggling, he said.
Though it’s difficult to attack U.S. bases, “it has meaning in the attempt itself,” Shikata said.
Meanwhile a terrorist attack in South Korea would damage President Kim Dae-jung’s “sunshine” policy of engagement toward North Korea, and could be blamed on the U.S. troop presence there, he said.
Bush is expected to visit Japan in October to discuss the U.S. military presence on Okinawa, and economic and environmental issues with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Bush is making the stopover in Japan on his way to Shanghai for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. Yokosuka Naval Base officials say Bush plans to visit the base Oct. 18. Bush is also expected to visit South Korea.
Stripes reporter Jim Lea and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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