Japan mulls N. Korea self-defense strike

CNN. Asia | 02.13.03

[Enemy Of The State]

Japan mulls N. Korea self-defense strike

Thursday, February 13, 2003 Posted: 4:06 PM HKT (0806 GMT)

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japan would launch a military strike against North Korea if Tokyo had firm evidence that the Stalinist state was ready to attack with ballistic missiles, Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said.

"It is too late if [a missile] flies towards Japan," Ishiba told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

"Our nation will use military force as a self-defense measure if [North Korea] started to resort to arms against Japan," he said, adding that Japan could regard the process of injecting fuel into a missile as the start of military attack.

Ishiba, known as a hawkish defense expert, also said Tokyo should develop a missile defense system with the United States since it lacks the capability to defend itself from missile attacks from North Korea.

"To develop and deploy [a missile defense system] is one of the major options. Our nation should pursue this," he said.

Ishiba, who took over the defense portfolio last September, said that in the longer term Japan could boost its military strength in order to reduce dependence on the United States.

Ishiba's remarks come as tensions run high over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program and Pyongyang's insistence that it is free to launch ballistic missiles.

In 1993, North Korea upset Japan by test-firing a medium-range Rodong-1 missile into the Sea of Japan.

And in August 1998, North Korea launched a three-stage Taepodong-1 missile over Japan, demonstrating that parts of western Japan were within the estimated 1,000-km (600-mile) range of the missile.

U.S. officials said on Wednesday that Pyongyang had a three-stage Taepodong-2 missile that could reach the West Coast of the United States, but that the missile had not been tested. (Full story)

Washington also says North Korea probably has one or two atomic weapons, but Ishiba declined comment on whether Japan had any independent confirmation of that assertion.

[AmericanInTokyo]

:-)

[concerned about politics]

I'll bet the Nobel Prize commitee is kicking themselves in the arse for giving the peace prize to Carter now. LOL.
He's the one who gave N Korea nuke tech for the sake of "peace."

Never vote Democrat. Ever.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Right. As if no soldiers from the Republic of Korea nor the Republic of Vietnam (RIP) did not die next to our young people, hundreds of thousands of them still MIA or their bodies missing, too. Get a life. What's with this "America is the only one who lost lives on the battlefields of Asia". You slap in the face a lot of people who also shed blood with us jointly to rollback Asian communism. Get real.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Carter and Clinton and Albright are prime examples of American naivety towards Asia and particularly our adversaries there, that got us flipped into this morass in the first place and may be responsible for the deaths of American, South Korean and Japanese lives as a result.

[ex-Texan]

Well, I kinda like those old Mothra and Godzilla films. Wish sometimes we could just turn back the clock ...

[Monster Zero]

After years of reading your posts, everyone here respects what you have to say. Today, you need to switch to the decaf tea and lighten up just a bit.

Everyone who reads this thread does so because they understand the gravity of the situation. You're not going to accomplish anything by evangelizing the choir.

[AmericanInTokyo]

I am a bit 'hot button' today. sorry about that :-)

[concerned about politics]

And the Democrat politicians are blaming Bush for not doing enough to bring peace to the world. No joke.
They know what they've done, but to them, votes are first priority. They're sick, sick people.

[cynicom]

Can you imagine the firestorm that would erupt if Bush were to "lease" a few nuclear equipped missiles to Japan????

[AmericanInTokyo]

OK. I agree. Got a pot boiling just now. (but I'm still gonna keep the tage line for awhile to make a point I've always tried to make; if anything it is frustration with our media, educational system and leadership). :-)

[AmericanInTokyo]

"Lend-Lease"? I like it.

[thinking]

I wouldn't be surprised if Japan has a few Ns that require a "firing pin" to make them operational...if Japan does go after the NKs...look out Asia, 'cause the Chinese are looking for a reason to hit Japan...memories of WWII

[cynicom]

I have friends that rest somewhere in North Korea, shot down over fifty years ago. If we were to pack our bags and go home now, it would be saying what they did so long ago, was for nothing. The temptation is to pack up and leave, however that would solve nothing and more aptly would only make the situation more difficult.

[kidd]

I read your posts with a lot of interest. You seem to be our best set of eyes and ears in a really important part o the world.

What is the general attitude about NK amongst the Japanese public?

Are they:
1) taking a pacifist/apathetic stand,
2) counting on the US to save them,
3) is there a groundswell to develop a sufficient defense structure, or
4) is there a strong movement for a pre-emptive strike?

[AmericanInTokyo]

A combination of #1) and #2) as the strongest general sentiment, so far.

That could change and they could be 'radicalized' in a flash, particularly behind a savior such as Ishihara Shintaro, who already said on Japanese TV a few months ago re: NK, (paraphrasing), "enough of this, we ought to attack that kind of nonsense country".

[F16Fighter]

North Korea has just awakened the Pacific 'Sleeping Giant' -- Japan. BIG mistake.

[skeeter]

look out Asia, 'cause the Chinese are looking for a reason to hit Japan

Then the Chinese would be killing one of the geese that lay their golden eggs.

Two things are keeping the Chinese economy running, American consumerism & Japanese investment.

I wouldn't want to be a chicom when that economy starts to falter... there'll be one swinging from every lamp post.

[theFIRMbss]

>Translation? Pre-emptive strike.

I'd love to see it, but I'm starting to lose faith in the free world's guts. Terrorists are out wrecking things, causing havoc, and the Western world basically debates, then passes resolutions, then talks about them. Our leaders, it seems, are Monty Python's People's Front of Judea...

[AmericanInTokyo]

When Pyongyang is liberated, lets ramp up the US Army site identification teams to full court press, with local N. Korean cooperation, to scour once and for all that land and all maintained records and try to find the remains of these US servicemen, as many as possible, and bring them finally home to the families (sons/daughters/grandchildren).

[AmericanInTokyo]

bump