Nervous Japan tells North Korea it will strike first

The Times (U.K.) ^ | 02/14/03 | Richard Beeston

[ffusco]

Tora! Tora! Tora!

[Dutch Boy]

Japan used to train it's air defense artillary out of FT Bliss Tx. I was there in the 79 through 81. They were using Nike Hercules missles at the time. I'm sure they have bigger and better toys now.

[ken5050]

son of a gun......

[JeeperFreeper]

Nice post. Maybe a FReeper can explain to me what Japan has to attack N.K. with?? I thought they had a limited self defense force. Do they have nuke missiles?? Some good FReeper out there enlighten me, please.

[AM2000]

Japan Military Guide

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Do they have nuke missiles??

No, but they can borrow one of ours and make copies of it in a few days. :)

[and the horse you rode in on]

Japan used to train it's air defense artillary out of FT Bliss Tx. I was there in the 79 through 81. They were using Nike Hercules missles at the time. I'm sure they have bigger and better toys now.

They have Patriot Systems now, but it sounds like they are interested in participating in a real ABM system.

And in going nuclear

The North Koreans are now in real trouble.
Negotiating this has got to be one of the reasons we have not acted against North Korea before.

[Polybius]

Maybe a FReeper can explain to me what Japan has to attack N.K. with?? I thought they had a limited self defense force. Do they have nuke missiles?? Some good FReeper out there enlighten me, please.

Japanese officials said last month Tokyo could ask US forces to launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korean missile bases if Pyongyang was preparing to fire missiles at its territory.

[Republic of Texas]

I think that comment may be more true than you think.

[Pokey78]

Maybe a FReeper can explain to me what Japan has to attack N.K. with??

[aught-6]

I am sure Japan can mass produce a large and technologically advanced nuclear arsenal in short order.

[BunnySlippers]

Haha! One of my favs. Although I gave up smoking, I bought my lighter in Little Toyko ... it is a Godzilla which (when you flick the fins on its back) throws flames out its mouth. :)

[Lexington Green]

Tell China and Russia that we're going to let Japan handle the N. Korean problem.

[mhking]

Maybe a FReeper can explain to me what Japan has to attack N.K. with??

Parts is parts.

[mrMJ]

I am curious as to how the Japanese public would react to a military build up. I think they've been nukd one too many times, not to start worrying now.

A military proscription is included as Article 9 of the 1947 constitution stating, "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.

Does anyone think a little constitutional reform is brewing? I know I'd start rethinking things, knowing the US is in the Middle East and that China and NK is breathing down thier neck. Actually I'd be really pissed about the NK shooting missle over my head and in my backyard.

So far only Japan has been on the receiving end of Pyongyang’s missile tests. In 1993 North Korea fired a medium range missile which landed off the Japanese coast. In 1998 Pyongyang launched a Taepodong 1 missile over Japan, demonstrating that all of the country’s cities were within range of North Korea’s missile batteries.

[onedoug]

"Banzai!!!"

[Joe Bonforte]

This is excellent news, and I would not be surprised if the Bush administration encouraged them to do it. Consider - we're busy elsewhere, and for lots of reasons, we don't need to be talking to the North Koreans. We need someone else to hold the line for a while, and Japan can get away with inflammatory statements that would put our soldiers in South Korea at risk and cause strain with China.

North Korea has said they will go to war if we do anything (like bomb their nuclear reactor). Now we don't know if that's true or not, but they certainly act crazy enough to do it. But if the Japanese attack, that risk should be much smaller.

[aristeides]

Didn't a big quantity of plutonium somehow go missing in Japan recently?

[VOR78]

Yep. Kinda makes you wonder what happened to it, doesn't it?