Japan warns that it will attack if North Korea aims missile

The Independent (U.K.) ^ | 09/15/03 | David McNeill

[Pokey78]

Japan's Defence Minister has stressed his country's right to strike North Korean missile sites if an attack is thought imminent.

In an exclusive interview, Shigeru Ishiba told The Independent: "The Japanese constitution permits my position. Attacking North Korea after a missile attack on Japan is too late. If North Korea orders its military to send a missile to attack Japan and the missile is raised to vertical in preparation for launch, then Japan will assume that an attack has begun and has the right to attack that particular missile launch site. What else can the missile be used for but to attack us?"

Intelligence officials estimate that North Korea has at least 100 Rodong ballistic missiles capable of striking Japan.

Mr Ishiba said: "The threat from North Korea, however, is not just aimed at Japan and the US, it's a problem for the whole world." He insisted his position was a defensive one. The tension was the fault of Pyongyang, he said, for "continuing to develop weapons in violation of their promises. We're just defending ourselves."

Japan is planning to develop a new type of radar to improve its ability to monitor North Korea's missile development, the Kyodo news agency reported yesterday.

The hawkish Mr Ishiba, who has earned a reputation for pushing the limits of Japan's debate on defence since taking office almost a year ago, has made clear he favours a much tougher stance than his predecessors toward Japan's Stalinist neighbour.

He believes that President George Bush's strategy is closer to his own approach, than the strategy of Bill Clinton. "Clinton's policy toward North Korea was based on two false premises: one, that Pyongyang would keep its promises [regarding the 1994 agreement to abandon its nuclear programme]; and two, that North Korea would collapse," he said.

"North Korea neither kept its promises nor collapsed. We are now faced with the consequences."

Earlier this year Mr Ishiba sparked a huge row when he told parliament that it was "worth considering" whether Japan should have an offensive capability, raising the possibility of radical change to its 50-year-old pacifist constitution, which renounces war "for ever". The prospect of a newly aggressive Japan, which already boasts annual military expenditure of almost £25bn - 25 per cent larger than Britain's - worries its neighbours, who have bitter memories of the Second World War.

Mr Ishiba's statements are another sign that Japan is slowly but inexorably moving away from a defence posture that many conservatives view as outdated in the aftermath of the Cold War. A number of senior politicians have recently floated the idea of Japan developing its own nuclear weapons, and in June, a bipartisan defence group of 103 junior politicians called for the government to change its defence-only policy to allow for a "minimum" level of offensive capability to attack an enemy. Under recent legislation, Japanese troops can be sent to Iraq to offer medical and reconstruction assistance, in violation, opponents say, of the constitution.

The Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi said yesterday that he wanted permanent changes to Article 9 - the section that renounces Japan's right to wage war - which would give the government authority to contribute troops to any international peacekeeping operations. The attack on the Baghdad offices of the UN delayed the dispatch of Japanese troops but Mr Ishiba insisted they would go "when we can ensure their safety". He said: "People are afraid of Japanese troops being killed but war is not a tea party."

[IonInsights]

Shouldn't they first get permission from the Democratic Party and the U.N.?

[BenLurkin]

WOW!

Generalissimo: Please Ping to Frank G- and Mr. H-

[tkathy]

It would be awesome to see Japan blasting at Korea. Hate to see people dead, but still awesome. Another sleeping giant is awakening.

[backhoe]

-The Atomic Genie- what we know about North Korea's Nuclear program--

[prairiebreeze]

war is not a tea party."

Attention US media!

<Prairie

[netmilsmom]

Please comment on this...thanks!

[virgil]

Its the difference between clinton and Bush. Bush would know what to do instinctively. If a nuke were fired at us Clinton would have to think about what to do and allow tens of thousands of Americans be slaughtered. Then he would get on TV and declare "peace" and say "I feel your pain".

[DoughtyOne]

I suspect they'd send in an air strike. So would I.

[DoughtyOne]

That pesky little state needs to be slapped to the side of the road.

[and the horse you rode in on]

The Japanese have a lot of practical experience with Korea.

Korea should be very afraid.

[aristeides]

I would imagine the Japanese have the capability to develop nukes in secret. (So, I should think, does Taiwan.)

[Publius6961]

Shouldn't they first get permission from the Democratic Party and the U.N.?

At least a UN resolution.
At least that's what our resident dimbulbs say...

[Cobra64]

I thought that their "Constitution" penned under their surrender in 1945 would not permit the Japs to having a military. And, wasn't McArthur managing the cleanup in Japan?

[STD]

Maybe a few old Zeros with Tiger, Tiger, Tiger!

[judywillow]

BONZAI!!!!! It's about time.

[CheneyChick]

I suspect they'd send in an air strike.

Yes. They know how effective they are.

[Cobra64]

Then he would get on TV and declare "peace" and say "I feel your pain".

The only time Slick ever said, "I feel your pain," was when he was raping an 8 year old girl.

[Cobra64]

If I were W, I'd turn out the rest of what remains in the North Korean lights (power grid). Then let the whimpster-Collin Powell ask the UN and NATO, "Who is next?"

I think that W can clean up this crap if he stays on course. The UN/NATO "approval" route is a bunch of crap. Americans are cleaning up this shit-hole middle-Eastern murderers. We are doing the heavy lifting. Ergo, we rule the cleanup. Then we go home, and the French can go back to importing more Islamistists so they can sniff more butte.

[Elliott Jackalope]

As I understand it there was a press release made by the Japanese government a few months ago about some "missing" nuclear material from their nuclear power plants. Some followers of the intelligence community interpreted this announcement as being a way that their government could quietly let the rest of the world know that Japan is now a nuclear nation.

Considering their technical ability and their manufacturing capability, and add that to the nuclear power plants they have, and I'm personally convinced that Japan is either a current member of the atomic club, or they could become a member in about fifteen minutes flat.

[strela]

Climb Mount Nitaka? Again?

[SauronOfMordor]

Hit NK with *w-h-a-t*?

They've got plenty of F-15 Eagles

[John H K]

Unfortunately none of their F-15s can carry any bombs or land attack missles at all; they're NOT "Strike Eagles." They're pure air superiority aircraft.

The Japanese desperately need some long range strike capability.

[DoctorMichael]

"Clinton's policy toward North Korea was based on two false premises: one, that Pyongyang would keep its promises [regarding the 1994 agreement to abandon its nuclear programme]; and two, that North Korea would collapse," he said.

"North Korea neither kept its promises nor collapsed. We are now faced with the consequences."

Bears repeating for any Liberals out there.

[geedee]

Shouldn't they first get permission from the Democratic Party and the U.N.?

Nah. That just applies to us Great Satan-types.

I say lock and load.

[El Conservador]

BANZAI!!!

[Centurion2000]

Hit NK with *w-h-a-t*? They've got zippo theater/nuclear weapons, unless we've armed them, recently.

Do you really think that the 2nd biggest economy in the world is not going to have a few nukes laying around just in case ?

[mamelukesabre]

Korea has alot of experience with japan...and one might say that japan has alot of payback coming it's way. There was a time when japan was the bad guy and korea was a victim...remember? I'm sure koreans remember very well.

[mamelukesabre]

Oh come on now. Don't hold back, tell us what you really think...ha

[Rubber Duck]

Japan actually has a fairly respectable military force. They are not loud about it, but I once took a ferry from Matsuyama to Hiroshima. It made a brief stop in the old military shipyard at Kure. There were Aegis Class destroyers (armed with missles) as far as the eye could see and more under construction. I suspect that there are more than a few patrolling the waters between Japan and Korea.

For all his indiscretions, Clinton accomplished one thing Republican administrations could not-- got Japan serious about rebuilding their military. It certainly wasn't Slick's intention, but it was an inevitable result of his tilt to China.

[aegiscg47]

I'm not getting worried until they start building some carriers and they name them Soryu, Akagi, etc....!

[Texas Eagle]

BONSAI ! ! !

[mamelukesabre]

Some would say that could be one of clintons major blunders...setting the stage for a re-militarized japan.

I've got mixed feelings about it. As long as japan is democratic and our buddies...sounds like a good idea. We sure could use another ally that has teeth to back up it's words...so far all we got that I can think of is the UK and maybe israel.

But the japanese(all far easterners for that matter) are extremely proud people and more than just a little ethnocentric. They also seem to be capable of a level of cruelty that is beyond beleif.(hows that for an un-PC statement?) I don't know what it is, maybe it is an ancient bloody history that would make europe and the middle east look like a girl scout outing. The things that the chinese, koreans, japanese, etc, have done to eachother over the centuries is just insane.

Some say the anglo-saxon has an inborn weakness for violence and war. Some say it is teutonic blood, some say it is a remnant of the viking bloodlust that lives on in modern westerners, but I think the far easterner might win the prize in that category.

[hasegawasama]

True that South Korea and North Korea both do not like Japan. South Korea will not attack Japan. North Korea might, but will be eliminated instantly. Payback coming our way? Maybe, but not much.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

I thought that their "Constitution" penned under their surrender in 1945 would not permit the Japs to having a military. And, wasn't McArthur managing the cleanup in Japan?

No. They don't have a military. The do have a self-defense force, however, that works like a military. But to be fair, we don't have a department of war anymore, since it became the department of defense.

[gridlock]

I predict that Japan will be the first nation to field an effective anti-ballistic missile system. They have a reletively simple problem to solve. The NK missiles must be launched from a fairly small area fairly close to the coast of Japan. This will make them susceptable to land-based interceptor missiles during the vulnerable boost phase.

Not that it's easy or anything, but put some large Cobra/Dane type phased array radars along the coast with some fast missiles and advanced control, and it should be possible to field a credible defensive system on the (reletively) cheap. It's a much easier task than we have of trying to destroy ICBMs during the terminal phase.

[LenS]

You're forgetting that the Japanese have a modern air force and Aegis missile cruisers. Plus they have a space program and a nuclear energy program that works with plutonium and breeder reactors. The odds are pretty good that the Japanese could assemble working ICBM's in a matter of days or even hours. They'd be fools not to have made contingency plans for it.

[LenS]

Japan doesn't need a long-strike capability to hit North Korea. They're just a few miles away.

[Madcelt]

Ping! Your input and perspective, from your view, would be.....prudent. ( especially considering your location.)

[Paulie]

"Shouldn't they first get permission from the Democratic Party and the U.N.?"

I know this was said in jest, but it speaks volumes of the folly of our politically correct leanings inside the beltway.

[Consort]

...Japan Defense Minister Flag

[Windcatcher]

Not just Anglo-Saxons...

One of the reasons I belive in a strong military is because of what the Nazis did to my relatives in Greece. They imprisoned my mother's grandfather, kicked her aunt's family out of their house and made her aunt cook for them, for instance. In a twist of irony, the Greek Communists would come down out of the mountains, attack the Germans, and retreat again (guerilla tactics). The Germans' response was to gather up civilians and kill five for every German the Commies had killed.

There's a village in Greece with a war memorial. In that town, the Nazis killed *all* of the males, including infants and the elderly. They literally left none of the males alive. I presume this was retaliation for an earlier attack on the Germans, but it's still a war crime and totally unjustifiable. This was the level of butchery visited upon a country of peasants little equipped to oppose them.

I live by this axiom: THE NAIVE, WISHING FOR PEACE, IS THE SUREST POSSIBLE WAY TO ENCOURAGE AN AGRESSOR.

[mhking]

[carl in alaska]

"It would be awesome to see Japan blasting at (North) Korea."

You go it. Japan takes out North Kora, Israel takes out Iran, and we've already taken out Iraq. Three swings, three home runs. No more axis of evil, and everybody goes home happy.

[carl in alaska]

Those are some interesting stories. My uncle from New Zealand fought in the British Commonwealth force that tried to defend Greece from the Germans. He went MIA in a battle and was never seen again. I just hope he didn't die in a concentration camp for POW's. There's a memorial in a Greek town with his name on it that thanks the Commonwealth troops.

[Windcatcher]

The WWII hero in my family isn't FDR or Truman, it's CHURCHILL. When that IDIOT FDR wanted to give Greece to the USSR, it was Churchill who put his foot down and told him to forget it. Were it not for him, my relatives would all have been locked behind the Iron Curtain and none of us would be here today.

[.cnI redruM]

I'd love to see how CHina reacted if Japan started rolling out the strike aircraft and cruise missles. Rolling them out completely independent of US manufacture or permission. I'm guessing KIJ's switchboard would really light up at that point.

[bluelowrider57]

aw jeez im gonna throw. Japan, go ahead lol.

[Lockbar]

LOL Texas Eagle! I was getting ready to do a web search for a little tree, and saw yours first. Nice thinking!! :-)