Japan considering strike against North Korea

This situation will spiral out of control faster than anyone can imagine. If Japan hits North Korea, China will undoubtedly respond being North Korea's biggest ally and all. If China attempted to get involved, the United States would definitely step in. An armed conflict would surely follow. This situation could spark World War III if diplomacy fails.

North Korea said it would return to the six-party talks if it was granted a one-on-one discussion with the United States. Bush has so far denied this request. North Korea has an estimated four-to-six missiles still on it's launch pads. I say we grant North Korea their one-on-one discussion and see if we can resolve this diplomatically.

As far as Japan hitting North Korea, I highly doubt they will. North Korea would definitely respond in kind against Japan. We would step in to help the Japanese. China would step in to stop the United States. It's just a situation which can be avoided still. For the Japanese to even be considering this- they must feel it's time for a policy update.

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The U.N. Security Council's five permanent members and Japan agreed Monday to postpone a vote on possible sanctions against North Korea in response to a missile test that rattled the region last week.


France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, the current council president, said there would be no vote Monday. China's U.N. ambassador said that council members have agreed to continue discussions on the Tokyo-sponsored resolution.


Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters after a meeting with envoys from Russia, the United States, Britain, France and Japan that the resolution would have to be altered for the council to approve it.


"If they wish to have a resolution, they should have a modified one, not this one," he said.


China's consideration of any resolution was considered significant, since Wang had been pressing for a weaker Security Council statement, which would not be legally binding.


U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Washington would look at any Chinese suggestions for changes, and the council would reevaluate "on a daily basis" whether to proceed with a vote.


The Kyodo News agency, citing unidentified Japanese officials, reported that Japan and the United States were seeking a renewed moratorium by North Korea on missile testing, and its unconditional return to six-party talks on its nuclear program, in exchange for no sanctions.


Bolton said the United States wants North Korea to return to the talks and resume the moratorium on missile testing, among other measures. But he refused to say whether the United States would agree to drop sanctions if North Korea did so.


The Japanese draft under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows military enforcement, demands that North Korea immediately stop developing, testing, deploying and selling ballistic missiles.


It also bans all U.N. member states from acquiring North Korean missiles or weapons of mass destruction — or the parts or technology to produce them — and orders all countries to take steps to prevent any material, technology or money for missile or weapons programs from reaching the North.


The draft resolution also urges North Korea to return immediately to the talks on its nuclear program with the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. The talks have been stalled since September.


China, the North's closest ally, and Russia, which has been trying to re-establish Soviet-era ties with Pyongyang, both oppose sanctions and have urged the Security Council to adopt a weaker presidential statement rather than a resolution.


The United States, Britain and France have expressed support for the proposal, while Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso has said there is a possibility that Russia will abstain.

Japan said Monday it was considering whether a pre-emptive strike on North Korea's missile bases would violate its constitution, signaling a hardening stance ahead of a possible Security Council vote.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters his government wants a vote on the measure "as soon as possible."

"I think we must send a message that's as clear as possible" to North Korea, he said.

Japan was badly rattled by North Korea's missile tests and several government officials openly discussed whether the country ought to take steps to better defend itself, including setting up the legal framework to allow Tokyo to launch a pre-emptive strike against Northern missile sites.

"If we accept that there is no other option to prevent an attack ... there is the view that attacking the launch base of the guided missiles is within the constitutional right of self-defense. We need to deepen discussion," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.

Japan's constitution bars the use of military force in settling international disputes and prohibits Japan from maintaining a military for warfare. Tokyo has interpreted that to mean it can have armed troops to protect itself.

A Defense Agency spokeswoman, however, said Japan has no offensive weapons such as ballistic missiles that could reach North Korea.

Japanese fighter jets and pilots are not capable of carrying out such an attack, a military analyst said.

"Japan's air force is top class in defending the nation's airspace, but attacking another country is almost impossible," said analyst Kazuhisa Ogawa. "Japan has no capacity to wage war."


South Korea, not a council member, has not publicly taken a position on the sanctions resolution, but on Sunday Seoul rebuked Japan for its outspoken criticism of the tests.


Meanwhile, a Chinese delegation including the country's top nuclear envoy — Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei — arrived Monday in North Korea, officially to attend celebrations marking the 45th anniversary of a friendship treaty between the North and China.


The U.S. is urging Beijing to push its communist ally back into six-party nuclear disarmament talks, but the Chinese government has not said whether Wu would bring up the negotiations. A ministry spokeswoman said last week that China was "making assiduous efforts" in pushing for the talks to resume.


Talks have been deadlocked since November because of a boycott by Pyongyang in protest of a crackdown by Washington on the regime's alleged money-laundering and other financial crimes.


Beijing has suggested an informal gathering of the six nations, which could allow the North to technically stand by its boycott, but at the same time meet with the other five parties. The U.S. has backed the idea and said Washington could meet with the North on the sidelines of such a meeting.
Still, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill questioned just how influential Beijing was with the enigmatic regime.


"I must say the issue of China's influence on DPRK is one that concerns us," Hill told reporters in Tokyo. "China said to the DPRK, 'Don't fire those missiles,' but the DPRK fired them. So I think everybody, especially the Chinese, are a little bit worried about it."


The DPRK refers to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.


Hill is touring the region to coordinate strategy on North Korea. He has emphasized the need for countries involved to present a united front.
"We want to make it very clear that we all speak in one voice on this provocative action by the North Koreans to launch missiles in all shapes and sizes," Hill said. "We want to make it clear to North Korea that what it did was really unacceptable."
___
Associated Press writers Audra Ang in Beijing and Mari Yamaguchi and Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo contributed to this report.

How ya doing, buddy?

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This situation will spiral out of control faster than anyone can imagine. If Japan hits North Korea, China will undoubtedly respond being North Korea's biggest ally and all.

Bitch please. China loves North Korea about as much as I love Carlos Mencia.

They don't. North Korea is pretty much on its own concerning everything.

Also please provide a link to your source.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Be real. This isn't going to be wwIII. I have 100% confidence Japan won't attack North Korea. Politics is alot of talk with little action, this is no different. This stuff always provides a good laugh.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Why are the states refusing 1 on 1 talks? It's not like there's anything to lose.

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Japan attacks North Korea? It can only mean one thing: Giant. Motherfucking. Robots.

Oh yeah.

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Uh yeah! I doubt China and the US would clash over something like this. That’s the last thing either side would ever want.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

In order for the Japanese to take action against North Korea, wouldn't they have to change Chapter II Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution: Japanese Constitution

I don't think Japan would risk it. They might try to talk President Bush into sending a diplomat to have a one-on-one conversation, but I think they would hold out for as long as they can. Bush should at least send a diplomat to talk to North Korea.

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As per request, I did attempt to find the link. I originally found this news report through DIGG and clicked on the same link as I did before to retrieve this article however it seems like Yahoo! might had modified it slightly since this posting. I don't understand it personally. If anyone knows of the exact article, please post a link. For now, I'll post the DIGG link: http://digg.com/world_news/Japan_Ser...ainst_N._Korea

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Is this what you're looking for.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13775754/

Jam it back in, in the dark.

It's not exactly the same one but close enough. In any case, Visavi... Japan is considering the legality of it. They are considering calling it a defensive action which might actually work.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by DSan

It's not exactly the same one but close enough. In any case, Visavi... Japan is considering the legality of it. They are considering calling it a defensive action which might actually work.

Interesting. I know Japan has been debating about modifying Article 9, but they seemed a little torn between keeping it and modifying it. A defensive action call could be a very clever way around it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I recall the Japanese constitution allows for a self-defense force, and Japan was going to justify attacking North Korea by calling it an act of self-defense. I agree with that classification to, seeing as how North Korea does have SCUD's that are within range of Japan. Blowing them up is perfectly acceptable.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

North Korea is going to view this as a provocation, and stop the bloody 6 party talks (which is near-useless, btw), and start blasting more nukes.

However, I'd support Japan with their preemptive strike (sounds so much like Bush...) if they just hit fast and hard at all their missile installations.

But seriously, sounds like the start of another war.

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Are we forgetting all the artillery pointed straight at Seoul that could destroy the city within minutes?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Actually, I thought that was the case for quite some time, but apparently the North Korean artillery would have serious trouble doing a lot of damage. The first reason is that Seoul is huge. It'll take more than a few artillery shells to make some real damage. Second is that the North Korean artillery hasn't been fired for real in quite some time, meaning it's likely they'll need a few tries before being able to hit seoul correctly, the first few shots are likely to miss by a large margin, and hit some less densely populated areas of the city if they hit the city at all. Last of all, artillery pieces would have time to fire only a few shots before the North Koreans would have to bring them back in their mountain tunnels as ROK airforce, US airforce and whoever else decides to join the party will essentially control the sky and will be able to blow up anything not fortified in a matter of minutes after North Korea starts lobbing shells at Seoul.

It's a fairly safe guess to say that the South Korean and the US already know where those artillery sites are located, and likely even have plans ready should they ever need to destroy them. Hell, the US has plans to invade Canada, they probably have some in case of war in a place that has been dangerous for the last 50 years. Give the US/ROK 1 hour, and I'm plenty sure there won't be much artillery left firing at Seoul.

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Originally Posted by xen0phobia

Be real. This isn't going to be wwIII. I have 100% confidence Japan won't attack North Korea. Politics is alot of talk with little action, this is no different. This stuff always provides a good laugh.

So speaks the ignorant voice of someone who's never lived through a war. Care to visit Iraq and tell them how politics is a lot of talk with little action?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

One major problem I see is that let's say Japan attacks N. Korea. The US would definately have to back them up, but they're already in Iraq, Afghanistan and now N. Korea too? That's stretching out the forces a bit too much, which leaves them vulnerable to attack. Not trying to be bias but there is probability for let's say Iran to attack the states. If the states do collapse then there's going to be major economical problems among many other problems.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Attack by whom? Does North Korea even have a navy?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

They do, but they pose very little threat, if any at all.

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Not trying to be bias but there is probability for let's say Iran to attack the states.

With what, pray tell?

And seriously, even with all the political turmoil in the states, do you know just how crucially ferocious Americans would respond to an actual military strike against our homeland?

How ya doing, buddy?

Yeah, according to Wikipedia, North Korea has 46 ships. You can expect anything that's not underwater to be pretty quickly should war errupt. As for what already is underwater, it essentially consists of glorified U-Boats and state-of-the-art Soviet engineering. Well, it was state-of-the-art, back in 1950.

Frankly, the most potent anti-ship weapon North Korea has is probably something like the Silkworm missiles they manufacture. Thing is, those things are already fairly low-tech and inaccurate, so against ships with modern equipment designed to counter missiles, they're pretty much useless. Any hit would likely be due to pure luck and nothing else.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I doubt it's gonna happen. I don't they would want to risk a war now plus they'd have to have international support most probably through the UN. But Russia and China have already vetoed. US will not intervene because it is tied up over Afghanistan and Iraq.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm no expert on politics or current events, but aren't we ignoring the nuclear bombs here.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

If a nuclear bomb goes off - all bets are off.

Even the Europeans will be down to ride if the North pops one of those off.

FELIPE NO

Iran's developing nukes aren't they? I don;t know, it could just be doing what it says its doing, developing nuclear electricity. But yeah, my main concern if there was a war would be for South Korea.

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South Korea would take a proverbial shit on the North Koreans.

NK has the numbers but SK got the technology to offset it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.