Posted on 10/06/2006 10:24:04 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
TOKYO - Japan is ready for North Korea to carry out its threatened nuclear test as soon as this weekend, officials said yesterday. Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi, on a visit to Washington, said Pyongyang's resolve to test its first atom bomb should not be underestimated.
"We discussed the possibility that the test would occur this weekend," Mr Yachi said after talks with US Deputy National Security Adviser Jack Crouch. North Korea issued a statement on Tuesday saying it would test a nuclear bomb, dramatically raising the stakes in its standoff with the US on its quest for atomic weapons. "They will probably go ahead and do it as they had that tone in their declaration," Mr Yachi said.
"It possibly means they are already very prepared." North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reportedly gathered top military commanders for a rally yesterday, urging them to bolster defences.
Attendees responded with cheers of hurrah and chanted slogans such as, "Let's fight at the cost of our lives for the respected Supreme Commander comrade Kim Jong Il". Tomorrow is the anniversary of Kim Jong Il's appointment as head of the Korean Workers' Party in 1997. In Tokyo, the Government said it was ready for a test by the arch-rival communist state. "We are making preparations keeping any possible scenario in mind," chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said. Japan would know immediately if there was a test, he said. Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would try to find common ground with his counterparts from China and South Korea when he saw them on his first foreign trip, which starts tomorrow. "We need to send messages together to stop the north before they make such a reckless action," Mr Abe said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
placemark
Oh, pshaw. It's not like they're our casualties.... (/keyboard kommando)
ROFL! I was thinking the same thing!! QUITE a "voluntary chant" from the peanut gallery!
Didn't a lot of actors filming westerns in the area of the desert test sites later all get cancer and die prematurely? Bonanza actors, etc?
That's pretty much the same rationale used to excuse Germany's rearmament prior to WWII.
Radiation is so over rated, I don't see people in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, dropping like flys
Not so fast on the overrated. It has always been my contention that John Holmes was born and raised near one of those locations.
It will take longer for Parliament to decide to build nukes than it will to build nukes.
Actually, that's pretty much what the pre-scripted Democrat talking points look like: 1)President Bush calling NK part of the "axis of evil" caused them to restart their nuke program. 2) President Bush should have held the two party talks Kim Jong Il wanted. 3) President Bush could have negotiated a NK "nuclear freeze" like the brilliant agreement Jimmy Carter and Maddy Albright got for BJ Clinton.
Sadly, too many people will buy into this if the President fails to get right out in front with a program of military and/or economic measures to pressure the NKs. Personally, I think that the other 5 members of the six power talks have some economic surprises in for KJI, if he pulls his nuke smoke wagon.
Tell that to Chernobyl-ites and hibakusha in Hiro and Naga.
I'm in.
I'll put down 10 October 2006 local time in Korea (within that 24 hour time frame).
But NK took lots of considerations from the US for their pledge to not pursue nuclear bomb ambitions (Clinton's treaty). So what now - they renege on their pledge, and the US does squat? What do you think, scrub?
My fearless prediction: (remember you heard it here, first)
li'l Kim lights a nuke. He and the Bush admin will let loose with enough bluster to make all the jihadis in Mohammadom green with envy. Kim will go MIA for a few months, Americans maintain status quo and wait for the next sex scandal to pop up.
Foley Gate is about to be dropped by the MSM like a Hot Nuclear Potato. In a nut shell - The mother of a gay page working for Pelosi was writing a book on pages. The book writer was in contact with Foleys pages. There was also a TV show in the works. The pages were trolling for book and movie worthy encounters. The Democrats will be looking for their next October Surprise this weekend or early next week. Looks like North Korea will supply the template for the next in their series of surprises. The Democrats probably already have their speeches and sound bites written for how Bush et. al. caused this North Korea mess.
We know what Japan will do. Will South Korea go nuclear in response ?
Yes considerations we should never have given. This is all water under the bridge, Now What? Nuke North Korea, fallout from our weapons spreads around the world, all because NK tested one of their own nukes. I still don't see what the test will prove. Let Lil Kim jump up and down, stamp his feet, throw a Nuclear tantrum on his own country,it will be just one less nuke he has to use in the future.
I don't want NK to have any nukes, but they do and a test still will not bring about all out war.
In the case of NK, we've tried diplomacy, bribery, threats, etc., apparently to no avail with this rogue nation - the rest of the world watches to see if we indeed are just a paper tiger.
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