Baker on N. Korea: "The fact that America has been so restrained, and has been so careful in its response does not say that we couldn't fight two wars at once. We can."
Posted on 02/10/2003 9:49:20 AM PST by Enemy Of The State
Monday, February 10, 2003 Posted: 9:03 PM HKT (1303 GMT)
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Baker on N. Korea: "The fact that America has been so restrained, and has been so careful in its response does not say that we couldn't fight two wars at once. We can."
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TOKYO, Japan -- Washington's ambassador to Tokyo has warned of a possible North Korean missile test over Japan as part of Pyongyang's bid to ratchet up tension over its nuclear program.
Citing unnamed sources, U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker said it appears the North Korean provocation was "not over."
"We hear reports that they may engage in a missile test, perhaps overflying the island of Japan," Baker said Monday.
However, he said it was unclear what plan the U.S. or Japan had to counter the test or what reaction they would take.
"As to what specific plan would be put into effect if there's an imminent missile threat against Japan, I simply do not know," Baker said.
North Korea shocked Japan and alarmed the world in 1998 when it tested a Taepodong missile which flew over Japan's main island.
Following that test, Pyongyang declared a self-imposed moratorium on further launches. But last year, as a dispute with the U.S. over North Korea's nuclear program blew up, Pyongyang indicated that the ban might be lifted.
Tensions have mounted on the Korean Peninsula since last October when the U.S. said North Korea admitted to secretly pursuing a nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 deal.
Pyongyang responded by backing out of a nuclear non-proliliferation treaty earlier this year, kicking out U.N. nuclear monitors and restarting its mothballed nuclear power plants in a move it says will compensate for an energy shortfall.
Now, with the crisis showing no sign of easing, Tokyo is becoming increasingly nervous about the threat North Korea poses.
"Almost all of major cities of Japan are within the range of North Korean Nodong missile. So now North Korea can attack Japan with chemical warheads and Nodong missiles," Hideshi Takesada from Japan's National Institute for Defense Studies said.
"Already they have 5,000 tons of chemical warheads."
Those fears have led the Japanese government to draw up contingency plans on how to deal with a possible North Korean missile launch.
A report in Japan's Yomiuri Shimbuin newspaper on Sunday said Tokyo would mobilize its forces following a launch if there were signs other launches would follow.
Under the plan, U.S. satellites would monitor North Korean missile bases. Any signs of a possible launch would prompt Tokyo to demand Pyongyang call it off. (Full story)
Baker said that the U.S. and Japan would likely share information on any North Korean test, but declined to elaborate.
Any strike on Japan not only threatens the world's second largest economy but also endangers 47,000 U.S. military personnel based there.
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 The crisis has sparked protests in South Korea
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Despite a series of international diplomatic efforts, North Korea has consistently demanded face-to-face talks with Washington to resolve the crisis.
However more diplomacy is underway, with the European Union preparing for a possible mission to North Korea.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana met Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday ahead of a visit to Seoul and, possibly, Pyongyang.
Solana plans to hold talks with leaders there and discuss ways to defuse the nuclear impasse.
Solana said his mission to North Korea depended on the outcome of an emergency meeting of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency this week.
The International Atomic Energy Agency will hold a board meeting on Wednesday to decide whether to refer the North Korea issue to the U.N. Security Council.
Should that happen, the Security Council may impose sanctions on North Korea in an attempt to persuade Pyongyang to drop its nuclear plans -- North Korea says such a move would amount to a declaration of war.
How about fried rice patties.
It's time for the Japanese to do a little target practice and knock this thing from the sky.
Gee, maybe a few missles would miss the target, and continue on their original tragectory and get Il Dung to sh!t in his quilted pants.
"It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union" -- President Kennedy (1962)
"It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any missile launched from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea against any other nation in the Northeast Asian and Pacific Region as an attack by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea upon the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea" --(hopefully) President Bush (2003)
It is simply unsustainable to have the desperate North Koreans moving fuel rods and plutonium around, creating 8-16 nuclear weapons per-annum, and at the same time perfecting the range and trajectory accuracy of their multi-staged intercontinental ballistic missile system, the Taepodong-2.
We must announce the Bush Doctrine for Northeast Asia IMMEDIATELY, and move to protect Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Alasaka. With a rather possible launch of a Taepodong-2 from coastal Hwadai County, North Korea, at this stage of regional tension, how could we even confirm in time whether such a payload included nuclear, chemical or biological weapons (all of which we KNOW North Korean possesses and we don't need UN inspectors to confirm)?
Yes, Freepers, lurkers, Americans and citizens of the world reading this site today, the clear ultimatum must now courageously be made specific and the North Koreans told clearly through public and private channels 'the ball is in your court'. We have multiple assets and resources at our command to detect such an ICBM launch (which they will call 'an orbital satellite for peaceful purposes' as in 1998), and the greatest military upon the face of the Earth can respond upon Pyongyang with unmerciful force within several minutes.
And, most of all, the little man with the bouffant hairstyle and elevator shoes knows it.
20 posted on 02/08/2003 11:09 AM EST by AmericanInTokyo
My response to the article was! The US should respond to the Korean missle tests by turning North Korea's rice patties into FRIED RICE PATTIES.
Get It? Gees.
Ladies and gentleman, I am speaking to you today to ask that you join me in offering my condolences to the citizens of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. We have received word that there was a terrible nuclear accident in Pyongyang approximately 2 hours ago. Early sources say the explosion occured in an underground nuclear weapons facility below the presidential palace of Kim Jong Il. I offer you this photo we received from South Korean operatives within North Korea. We will begin to offer aid and supplies as needed to help the People of North Korea to rebuild.
Pyongyang 01:30 Local time
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