N Korea/Japan relationships

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

You have to wonder how long it will take China to get involved in this.

My concern is this - with the stuff from Iran/Syria last week and now this, these two areas seem to be on a slippery slope. This administration hasn't really ever shown too much finesse with diplomatic and foreign relations and we have two very real powder kegs on our hands. Even if it never comes to arms, much needed foreign support and trade could be affected. Let's see how well Bush does in Europe this week mending relationships.

North Korea Denounces Tokyo Attitude as 'Plot'

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea on Sunday called recent Japanese moves to change its defense policy a plot to "reinvade" it and said Tokyo had joined with the United States in a hostile policy against it.

The accusations, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), came a day after Japanese and U.S. cabinet officials met in Washington and expressed "deep concern" over North Korea's refusal to negotiate over its nuclear arms programs.

Japan in December unveiled a revamped defense policy that suggested a shift from the purely defensive posture in place since World War II and saw a larger Japanese role in global military cooperation, along with a better response to terrorist and missile attacks.

The new policy outline reflected concern about the threat from North Korea, which shocked Japan in 1998 when it launched a ballistic missile over Japan's mainland.

"The military threat touted by the Japanese militarists is a far-fetched allegation fabricated by themselves," said an editorial in the North Korean Communist Party daily Rodong Sinmun carried by KCNA.

"They have joined in the U.S. vicious hostile policy toward the DPRK and its moves to stifle it, and, therefore, the situation of the Korean peninsula has reached the worst phase," the editorial added, but gave no further details.

North Korea said last week that it had nuclear weapons to deter a hostile United States and that it was withdrawing from six-party negotiations on its nuclear arms programs.

In a joint statement issued on Saturday after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Defense Minister Yoshinori Ohno, the two nations urged North Korea to return unconditionally to the six-nation talks that also involve China, South Korea and Russia.

"The Secretary of Sate and the Japanese Foreign Minster made clear their deep concern over the statement," they said in a special communique.

If the talks completely collapse, the parties would consider unspecified "measures," Rice said at a news conference, a possible reference to calls by hard-liners in the administration of President Bush for North Korea to face possible U.N. sanctions.

Three rounds of talks on Pyongyang's nuclear arms programs have already taken place, but North Korea has for months resisted international pressure to resume them.

A senior Chinese Communist Party official held talks in North Korea on Saturday, the latest in a flurry of efforts to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table, but North Korea showed no signs of budging.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[justinb138 0]

I kinda wonder if NK really is that paranoid, or if they're just saying everyone is going to invade them as an excuse for nuclear buildup.

[mcarchangel 0]

This is mostly a shakedown attempt against South Korea, Japan, and the United States by Kim and his cronies. They need food, fuel, cash and they figure if they can put out an even semi-viable threat then especially the South Koreans and Japanese will give it to them. That was origionally the plan and it's what they are still trying to do even though it hasn't worked too well. Bush hasn't wanted to buy them off like Carter/Clinton and the Japanese are more likley to go the missile defense and own nuclear stockpile route then give in. Probably the best thing that could happen for all concerned right now is a Chinese invasion and conquest of North Korea. It sucks to live in China, but it's a paradise compared to North Korea. Thye could create their own buffer state/puppet, and we would ahve to worry about South Korea a little less.

-------------------------------------------------------
"These are the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days. They're back! There's no choice left, and I'm ready for war."

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

This is mostly a shakedown attempt against South Korea, Japan, and the United States by Kim and his cronies. They need food, fuel, cash and they figure if they can put out an even semi-viable threat then especially the South Koreans and Japanese will give it to them.

Bingo! It worked under Clinton. But Bush isn't going to fall for it.