Posted on 02/09/2003 12:41:52 PM PST by AntiGuv
SEOUL, Feb. 9 — Fears of a surprise North Korean missile launching mounted today in northeast Asia after President Bush on Friday did not rule out a military response to North Korea's steps toward possible production of nuclear warheads.
Tensions were high in Japan with a major Japanese newspaper reporting that the Japanese government was considering mobilizing its military if North Korea fired another missile over Japan, as it did in August 1998.
North Korea fueled the fears, warning of "the toughest measures" against what it said was "an undisguised bid" by the United States "to mount a pre-emptive attack on the D.P.R.K.," or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Japanese officials were not immediately available for comment on the report in Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's biggest-selling newspaper, suggesting that another North Korean missile shot in the direction of Japan would persuade the government of the need for strong countermeasures. Besides mobilizing what are called "Self-Defense Forces," said the newspaper, the government would consider sanctions.
Japanese officials were reported to be weighing a series of moves against North Korea while the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency prepared for a meeting this week at which it may refer the North Korean nuclear threat to the United Nations Security Council.
The allusion to mobilization of Japanese forces indicated the depth of concern in Japan as North Korean rhetoric intensifies in tone and specific threats.
The Self-Defense Forces are barred from waging war beyond Japan's borders by Article 9 of the country's postwar constitution, imposed during the American occupation under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. The forces have never mobilized for attack. Nonetheless, some observers believe North Korea could trigger a change of attitude if it demonstrates its ability to fire missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads.
North Korea pledged in September 1999 not to fire another missile after launching the Taepodong on a trajectory high over Japan on Aug. 31, 1998. The missile traveled more than 850 miles, landing between northern Japan and Vladivostok, Russia.
But now North Korea says that it is no longer bound by the no-missile pledge and that it is no longer bound by any agreement not to develop and build nuclear warheads. In addition, North Korea has called for direct negotiations only with the United States.
Despite South Korean reluctance to antagonize the North, the United States has pressed for a debate in the United Nations Security Council on economic sanctions that North Korea has said it would regard as "an act of war."
Approval of sanctions was expected to encounter serious opposition from members of the Security Council in favor of negotiations to persuade the North to return to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, from which it withdrew in December. China, Russia and France are all viewed as strong advocates of a diplomatic push to persuade the North to shut down the five-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon that it reactivated after expelling inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Dec. 31.
North Korean commentaries indicated the North was, if anything, more concerned about moves by the United States to build up its forces in the western Pacific than about sanctions.
President Bush hinted on Friday that the North's fears might not be altogether far-fetched when he said he preferred a diplomatic solution but pointedly did not say if a military solution was out of the question.
Although the 37,000 American troops stationed in South Korea are not capable of a first strike against the North, a strike against the North Korean nuclear complex is believed to remain a possibility only if the North goes into production of nuclear weapons. So far there has been no confirmation that the North has begun extracting plutonium for building nuclear warheads from spent fuel rods at the Yongbyon complex.
Will they let one annointed "prince" commit them to national suicide?
Now wait a minute.........
We're not talking about the Democrat Party!
No & Yes.
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