ROTFLOLOL! Japanese tell NK that...
Posted: 2003-02-16 10:28am
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/ ... 00992.html
We'll attack, Japan tells North Korea
February 15 2003
By Shane Green
Japan Correspondent
Tokyo
Japan has warned that it is prepared to launch a strike against North Korea if it believes the communist state is preparing a ballistic missile attack on it.
In Tokyo's most robust military stance since the end of World War II, Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Japan would be prepared to strike if it detected North Korea was fuelling ballistic missiles in preparation for an attack.
"It is too late if (a missile) flies towards Japan," Mr Ishiba said. "Our nation will use military force as a self-defence measure if (North Korea) starts to resort to arms against Japan."
Mr Ishiba was at pains to portray a Japanese strike against North Korea as an act of self-defence, in line with Japan's post-war constitution, which forbids military aggression.
But his warning pushes constitutional restraint to the limits, and sends a clear message that Japan will not be a passive target.
As the crisis over North Korea's nuclear arms program worsens, Pyongyang has issued increasingly
strident warnings that it is prepared to strike against US forces in the region and their allies. Japan, a chief ally, is within easy missile range.
North Korea maintained its strong line yesterday, rejecting this week's decision by the United Nations nuclear watchdog to refer the nuclear crisis to the UN Security Council.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency dismissed the International Atomic Energy Agency as "America's lapdog", saying Pyongyang had no obligations to the IAEA since its withdrawal from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty last month.
On Wednesday the IAEA declared North Korea in breach of atomic safeguards, sending the crisis to the 15-nation Security Council.
It was not immediately clear exactly what form any Japan strike against North Korea could take. The country has well-equipped forces but is more geared towards self-defence.
Mr Ishiba's warning will further raise tension in the crisis over North Korea's nuclear arms program.
The US yesterday reaffirmed that it would not immediately push for UN sanctions following the IAEA decision, instead continuing to pursue a diplomatic solution.
The Japanese defence chief also gave his strong support to the development of a missile defence shield with the US, part of Washington's push for a national missile defence system for US forces and allies in Asia.
Japan is extremely vulnerable to a missile attack. In 1998 North Korea test-fired a missile over Japan that landed in the Pacific. Since then, Tokyo and Washington have been researching a missile defence system.
Mr Ishiba foreshadowed a boosting of Japan's own forces to lessen its reliance on US forces based in the country, saying there was no "free ride" in the post-Cold War era.
The North Korean crisis is also certain to provide impetus to push special emergency legislation through the Diet, Japan's parliament, designed to prepare the country for an attack.
The legislation was bogged down in the Diet last year, but the Government is making a renewed push to have it passed in the current session.
Mr Ishiba's comments came as the the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, James Kelly, said he believed the North Korean crisis could prompt Japan to rethink its position as a non-nuclear weapons state.
"Certainly, this is a problem that is of a very serious impact on Japan and will cause Japan to rethink all of its positions," he told the House of Representatives International Relations Committee.
But Mr Kelly - the official to whom North Korea confessed to having a nuclear arms program last September - said he believed Japan would stay non-nuclear while it remained under the US nuclear umbrella.
Separately, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signalled a possible overhaul of US forces in South Korea, which could include a reduction in the 37,000 troops stationed there.
He told a congressional hearing that he would like to see forces moved away from the heavily fortified border and the South Korean capital, Seoul.
- with agencies
We'll attack, Japan tells North Korea
February 15 2003
By Shane Green
Japan Correspondent
Tokyo
Japan has warned that it is prepared to launch a strike against North Korea if it believes the communist state is preparing a ballistic missile attack on it.
In Tokyo's most robust military stance since the end of World War II, Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Japan would be prepared to strike if it detected North Korea was fuelling ballistic missiles in preparation for an attack.
"It is too late if (a missile) flies towards Japan," Mr Ishiba said. "Our nation will use military force as a self-defence measure if (North Korea) starts to resort to arms against Japan."
Mr Ishiba was at pains to portray a Japanese strike against North Korea as an act of self-defence, in line with Japan's post-war constitution, which forbids military aggression.
But his warning pushes constitutional restraint to the limits, and sends a clear message that Japan will not be a passive target.
As the crisis over North Korea's nuclear arms program worsens, Pyongyang has issued increasingly
strident warnings that it is prepared to strike against US forces in the region and their allies. Japan, a chief ally, is within easy missile range.
North Korea maintained its strong line yesterday, rejecting this week's decision by the United Nations nuclear watchdog to refer the nuclear crisis to the UN Security Council.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency dismissed the International Atomic Energy Agency as "America's lapdog", saying Pyongyang had no obligations to the IAEA since its withdrawal from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty last month.
On Wednesday the IAEA declared North Korea in breach of atomic safeguards, sending the crisis to the 15-nation Security Council.
It was not immediately clear exactly what form any Japan strike against North Korea could take. The country has well-equipped forces but is more geared towards self-defence.
Mr Ishiba's warning will further raise tension in the crisis over North Korea's nuclear arms program.
The US yesterday reaffirmed that it would not immediately push for UN sanctions following the IAEA decision, instead continuing to pursue a diplomatic solution.
The Japanese defence chief also gave his strong support to the development of a missile defence shield with the US, part of Washington's push for a national missile defence system for US forces and allies in Asia.
Japan is extremely vulnerable to a missile attack. In 1998 North Korea test-fired a missile over Japan that landed in the Pacific. Since then, Tokyo and Washington have been researching a missile defence system.
Mr Ishiba foreshadowed a boosting of Japan's own forces to lessen its reliance on US forces based in the country, saying there was no "free ride" in the post-Cold War era.
The North Korean crisis is also certain to provide impetus to push special emergency legislation through the Diet, Japan's parliament, designed to prepare the country for an attack.
The legislation was bogged down in the Diet last year, but the Government is making a renewed push to have it passed in the current session.
Mr Ishiba's comments came as the the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, James Kelly, said he believed the North Korean crisis could prompt Japan to rethink its position as a non-nuclear weapons state.
"Certainly, this is a problem that is of a very serious impact on Japan and will cause Japan to rethink all of its positions," he told the House of Representatives International Relations Committee.
But Mr Kelly - the official to whom North Korea confessed to having a nuclear arms program last September - said he believed Japan would stay non-nuclear while it remained under the US nuclear umbrella.
Separately, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signalled a possible overhaul of US forces in South Korea, which could include a reduction in the 37,000 troops stationed there.
He told a congressional hearing that he would like to see forces moved away from the heavily fortified border and the South Korean capital, Seoul.
- with agencies
