Japan on High Alert!

[American Patriot]

Japan on High Alert Following North Korea's Attack




By YUKA HAYASHI

TOKYO—North Korea's artillery attack on a South Korean island put the Japanese government on high alert, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordering his cabinet members to step up information-gathering and prepare for emergencies.





China sends two ships to patrol islands in the East China Sea that are also claimed by Japan, the latest sign of heightened tension between the two nations. Video courtesy of Reuters.




After Mr. Kan gathered his key cabinet ministers for an emergency meeting late Tuesday, Tokyo issued a statement that harshly condemned Pyongyang for its attacks on civilian targets and expressed strong support for South Korea.


"The latest act of provocation undermines the peace and security of the entire northeast Asian region including Japan, not just those of South Korea," chief cabinet secretary Yoshito Sengoku said at a news conference, as he called the attack an "unforgivable act." "We demand an immediate end to this kind of action," he said.


The strong show of support for South Korea comes as Tokyo moves to strengthen security ties with Seoul, as both nations, along with their mutual allies such as the U.S. and Australia, beef up cooperation to counter rising tensions in northeast Asia. The swelling military presence of China and uncertainties surrounding a leadership transition in North Korea have stoked concerns.


While asking his ministers to start preparing for emergency situations to ensure the safety of the Japanese people, Mr. Kan ordered to maintain particularly strong communications with Seoul and Washington.


Japan's self-defense forces are expected to escalate intelligence-gathering activities, including closer surveillance from naval vessels operating in the Sea of Japan near the Korean Peninsula, government officials say. They would also keep in close contact with the U.S. military.
Japan Real Time

• Kan's Dilemma: Public Funds for North Korean Schools?

Mr. Kan spent his afternoon on a national holiday discussing with his aides North Korea's attack on the South. South Korea scrambled jets and returned fire after the North fired scores of artillery rockets on Yeonpyeong island Tuesday afternoon, setting houses on fire in its small villages and sending its 1,200 residents scrambling for bomb shelters.


At this point, Japanese activities will focus on information-gathering, rather than preparing forces for a possible wartime situation, the government officials said, citing the South Korean government's effort to contain the situation.


If fighting were to escalate between the Koreas, Japan would also need to prepare for a potential flood of refugees.


—Megumi Fujikawa contributed to this article. Write to Yuka Hayashi at yuka.hayashi@wsj.com

[American Patriot]

Why Kim Jong Il continues to make lunacy his principal export


Posted By David Rothkopf Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - 2:44 PM Share



Bill Clinton once noted that nuclear weapons were North Korea's only cash crop. It was a wry and on-target observation that underscores a critical point. There is clearly a method to the madness of Kim Jong Il and the regime he leads.
After this week's revelations about North Korea's latest nuclear initiative followed by today's exchange of fire between North Korean and ROK troops, it would be easy to suggest that the country is once again going through one of its periodic bouts of irrationality. And by any traditional calculus of behavior, it is hard to deny that a small, impoverished nation frittering away scarce resources on a giant military despite the fact that there is zero chance they could ever defeat their principal adversary seems nuts.
But that would only be the case if the value of that military were measured in traditional, abstract terms. If this measurement is balanced in the context of the North Korean leadership's political needs, it makes more sense. Maintaining a confrontational stance with the South provides a rationale for an authoritarian state and a reason to have the forces in place to maintain that state. It also provides a useful distraction from the utter failure to create a healthy economy within the country.
Furthermore, every time North Korea flexes its muscles, threatens its neighbor, or violates international law it gains stature unavailable to it via any other means. Think about it: North Korea has a GDP smaller than Costa Rica, roughly the half the size of that of say, the Sudan.
Finally, every time the North does one of these things, the response of the rest of the world actually, brings about benefits. After the "official condemnations" die down and the sanctions are proved to be ineffective -- as they inevitably are when pitched against a country in which the will or discomfort of the people does not exactly drive the political system -- North Korea gets a reward of some sort, a deal, an aid package, energy supplies, food. Best of all, the rest of the world accepts its word on vital matters even though North Korea has never ever kept its promises.
As they say in my part of Pyongyang, "such a deal." Is it any wonder that Kim Jong Il continues to turn to his nuclear program to be his main cash crop, to make "lunacy" his country's principal export?
This is not to minimize the risk from the North. Actually, it underscores that it is likely to remain and fester for the foreseeable future. In fact, some observers see this week's events as an effort by Kim Jong Il to provide "victories" for his son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-Eun. The fact that the unveiling of the sophisticated "astonishingly modern" (see today's FT story "Kim Jong Il Plays His Aces") uranium enrichment facilities are seen as yet both a coup for the North and a shocking intelligence failure for the United States and our allies already puts it in the win column. The fact that the exchange of gunfire today was met with communiqués and deep restraint (thus far) suggests it too may end up in the plus column for the dear leader and his clique.
These events may also ultimately be seen as wins for Kim on two other levels. First, the nuclear facility almost certainly required international collaboration. If it turns out that support came in part from, say, Pakistan, already suspected of helping the Koreans develop a nuclear ballistic missile capability, it would be deeply embarrassing and awkward for the United States. Next, the fact that the United States and South Korea are really hamstrung on this issue, almost entirely dependent on the Chinese to put real pressure on the Koreans, makes this issue yet another that underscores how the balance of power has shifted away from Washington -- even with almost 40,000 troops on the ground in South Korea and North Korea a top diplomatic priority for the administration.
In short, call Kim strange, joke about his quirks and collection of VHS tapes. I can't help doing so sometimes. But we ought to stop suggesting he is irrational or unpredictable. What he is doing, it's completely in character, following a clear pattern and may very well ... and yet again ... pay off, precisely as he intended it to.

[Malsua]

North Korea needs spanked.

[Malsua]

They are still fighting World War II.

Well, to be specific, the Korean conflict circa 1950.


Of course, it's Debka so it's bullshit, but if you root through it, there's some elements of truth in there, I just don't know what.
---------------
Tokyo Calls for Military Attacks on Pyongyang as Clueless Obama Dithers

Yet another traditionally-close US ally abandoned to fate...

Now DebkaFile is reporting that the Japanese -correctly observing that no response in the face of this second Nork attack only will invite more of them- are strongly promoting the idea of a prompt military reaction... or at least something of significance out of the UN security council.

[American Patriot]

Japan: possible N.Korea has advanced nuclear arms



TOKYO | Wed Nov 24, 2010 1:03am EST



TOKYO Nov 24 (Reuters) - Japanese Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said on Wednesday the possibility that North Korea's nuclear arms development is fairly advanced cannot be ruled out.


"North Korea's uranium enrichment activities are a highly worrisome development ... We cannot rule out the possibility that their nuclear arms programme is fairly advanced," Kitazawa told a news conference.


North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island on Tuesday, the heaviest attack on its neighbour since the Korean War ended in 1953, came days after comments by Siegfried Hecker of Stanford University that he had been shown hundreds of centrifuges during a tour of the Yongbyong nuclear complex in North Korea.



[ID:nN20211214] (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Michael Watson)

[Toad]

...
Of course, it's Debka so it's bullshit, but if you root through it, there's some elements of truth in there, I just don't know what.

...

Exactly. I used to like Debka, but have become pretty disenchanted with it. They weave a lot of speculation and never named sources into their reports and you're just left wondering wtf is factual.