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Japan holds evacuation drills as N Korea presses on with missile tests

16 Comments
By Teppei Kasai

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16 Comments
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It's not Yamaguchi that needs to worry particularly. The primary target is likely to be Okinawa. This is where the US bases are.

You need to do more research on the local area before commenting. Yamaguchi has a large Marine base in Iwakuni. It is one of North Korea's primary targets and has been on alert for several weeks.

As for Abu, it's a town that has a small population and the drill conducted would be the same as any other disaster drill that is practiced regularly in towns across the prefecture. Good thing to have for sure, but as the locals stated, not much use for such an evacuation built on fear mongering.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

What if the missile hits the school, then what? It's not like the NK have smart precision targeting on their missiles since the launches have shown point and shoot. Don't know who posted that mainland Japan has nothing to worry about, probably as much common sense as the ones who drove or did not evacuate when the 2011 Tsunami arrived. Yamaguchi and any part of Japan is in the target zone of NK.  The problem is not NK but when is Japan going to protect itself if the US isn't doing it. Had Japan have the capability, it is very doubtful NK would even aim their missiles towards Japan.  Why not aim the missiles at China if they are that bold enough or Russia?  They haven't yet bothered to send one towards a US base or the US itself as they fully know that each of these 3 countries would mean the end of the Un regime. Japan should just ignore the US and take protective measures and shoot the next missile down by any means or shoot one back toward their waters.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

And how do you propose it be stopped?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It is not a matter of "old scores to settle." Kim is a very dangerous dictator who knows that he can bully the neighbors and threaten the USA. President Trump will continue the Bushes' and Obama's policies because the alternative is devastating. China will continue its policy because it irritates the USA and it keeps NKs out of northern China. Evacuation drills are useless, but they give a false sense of security to adults and at the same time keep children in a constant state of fear. The retaliation plans are set if Kim makes any part of the USA, regardless of size, a target. Kim knows President Trump is not going to take military action first, so the constant threat is exactly what Kim wants.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

When I was a third grader we had "Air Raid Drills" where all the little munchkins lined up outside the classroom in the hall and sat down with our backs to the wall and heads down between our knees. This was in the middle of the Cold War. Few years later I learned what a total joke that was in the event of a nuclear attack. Still, if a school is not smack in the target zone, it's a prudent thing to establish and practice evacuation protocols.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Sad to say, They Have old Scores to settle with Japan as well and thats not good at all.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@bjohnson23, I have to say I agree with you about shooting a missile back towards NK waters, but I'd go a step further and announce to NK precisely where it would land, and in that announcement add that any other missile fired from NK towards Japan would result in one being fired back that would target something on land, or in an NK port. But that would start a war, and I really wouldn't want that to happen. So, cancel that idea and let NK strike first, then there's no reason not to obliterate them. Again, let's hope that doesn't happen. We're just a bunch of armchair generals.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Running wont help if the middle is nuclear tipped!

Still, nothing like instilling fear into the population-makes themeasier to manage........

0 ( +1 / -1 )

How dare NK keep this up against a country that hasn't threatened them for more than 70 years. They've carried out so many missile tests that we think it's somehow normal. Well, it isn't and it needs to stop.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If Kim is assassinated by his own people or the West (and this is inevitable), those who are in a position to take over the leadership of NK would be keen to negotiate once he is out of the picture.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The thing about trying to shoot a Nth Korean missile down, is if you happen to miss you will only embolden them. Even THAAD probably isn't reliable enough for the USA to risk having a go (unless it's absolutely necessary of course), and that's probably a big reason why for all Trump's bluster they haven't attempted a shoot-down yet. Better to let Nth Korea think you have the ability to do so than to risk even a 20% chance of failure and getting egg on your face.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I am left to wonder what is the value of evacuation drills, in case of nuclear strike, where you have a few minutes warning time at best, if you get any warning before it goes off. Reminds me of our old duck and cover exercises here in America back in the 50s. Looks like doing something, but accomplishing nothing of value at all in reality.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If anyone in that school / prefecture would had half of a brain, they would consider the fact that the missile could also fell into the gym, rendering these evacuation drills as pointless.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

In the USA anyone who can own a weapon, and the first point to learn that the shooter needs to know where the bullet will go if it misses its target. If mathematical analysis shows the missile is going to hit Japan or the USA, then the THAAD aim needs to be to the northeast so that the missiles "fall" into NK territory . OOPS, they missed.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's not Yamaguchi that needs to worry particularly. The primary target is likely to be Okinawa. This is where the US bases are. North Korea hasn't forgotten what the U.S.A. did to them in the Korean War. Their first target is going to be the US. Let's hope we don't get caught up in the cross fire.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Kim is a very dangerous dictator who knows that he can bully the neighbors and threaten the USA.

Don't know. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that Kim, Abe and his handlers are all working together. "Don't worry, Kim-san. We'll give you the technology to fire the rocket and if things get heavy, we'll pick you up and airlift you somewhere safe. You want the usual crate of caviare and champagne?"

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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