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© 2018 AFPJapan says N Korea still poses serious and imminent threat
By Toru Yamanaka TOKYO©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
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© 2018 AFP
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The Original Wing
Well of course they did. There's an election coming up.
"If you want to control someone, all you have to do is to make them feel afraid." -Paulo Coelho
smithinjapan
Of COURSE they are bringing this up today! It was only yesterday Aso, Abe, and other politicians brought up their plan to change the Constitution by the middle of next year; the same people whose families got rich off the backs and deaths of POWs and other forced slaves from Japan's former colonies, who deny any atrocities, including complete denial of Nanjing and sexual slavery, and who have no children of their own to go and die for the nation, falling like cherry blossoms. They also stand to make billions for themselves through defense contracts that depend on such propaganda.
bjohnson23
Yes, more money for my pockets...I love it..but on the flip side, NK has not shown backing down to anyone including Trump and as long as it has missiles capable of hitting Japan it is a big threat. They proved it can hit Japan whenever it wants. If that happened, do people really think that the US would shoot their missiles down or attack them. The answer lies in the truth NO at least not right away and NK can always claim that it was a mistake and apologize under the Russian and Chinese blouse. Japan needs to defend itself period and not wait for the US in reality for an attack strike that would never occur. Augh history has proven that time and time again while the innocents are slaughtered.
Aoi Azuuri
Ministry and Agency always want big budget.
JeffLee
Blame the pointless Iraq War. The last couple of US administrations were distracted away from the world's greatest risk while the N, Koreans were given even more reason to push on with its nuke program.
Udondashi
Why is China also not at the top of the list ?
China has hundreds of missiles aimed at Japan.
macv
@smithinjapan well said. thank you Of COURSE they are bringing this up today! It was only yesterday Aso, Abe, and other politicians brought up their plan to change the Constitution by the middle of next year; the same people whose families got rich off the backs and deaths of POWs and other forced slaves from Japan's former colonies, who deny any atrocities, including complete denial of Nanjing and sexual slavery, and who have no children of their own to go and die for the nation, falling like cherry blossoms. They also stand to make billions for themselves through defense contracts that depend on such propaganda.
Do the hustle
The biggest threat to Japan is Japan. They are their own worst enemy.
goldorak
When does an ongoing yet unprecedented threat cease to be 'unprecedented'? Over dramatic much?
Wallace Fred
Rght on cue like the good poodles they are. Once the master beys, they simply follow suit. Kim will never meet this dysfunctional excuse of a democracy. It's best for both Koreas to sort everything out. Trumpos simply too dense to grasp something this delicate and abes simply a mindless brown noser.
YuriOtani
What has really changed? The DPRK still has its missiles and is still making more fissionable material for warheads. Trump is trying to make reality from just his words alone. The DPRK has not stopped making bombs!
joyridingonthetitanic
Of course N. Korea is still a threat and anyone that thinks otherwise is deluded. Kim Jong Un may have the south and the US convinced he's changed but the reality speaks otherwise. The North continues to build and test weapons of mass destruction, aim them and fire them over Japan and its populated areas, and has no concerns for any possible accidents of loss of life during these tests what so ever.
It is a brutal and wicked regime that cares not for its own or for those of its neighbours and which uses tyrannical means to repress and brainwash its population into thinking the rest of the world is against it!
Japan has every right to defend itself and if that means spending money on a decent defence network then, yes absolutely, of course they should. Those that critique the cost and the outcome of defence projects are usually the first to complain when the bombs start falling and there is no response. I'm pleased that at least Japan has the sense to see that the charm offensive being conducted by the North is nothing but a sham and con!
thepersoniamnow
I am more worried about China and S Korea having internal problems. History tells you that can mean war. Since they are both highly nationalist nations that have a lot of their national identity mixed in with their hatred of Japan, its a scary mix for me.
gogogo
NO KIDDING? It's election time, Abe is looking for the fear vote!!
Yubaru
Abe needs his bogey man and the media conveniently plays along.
You are probably right, but not in the way I will bet you were thinking. The biggest threat to Japan is the people's complacency and unwillingness to stand up and demand accountability from it's leaders, including Abe.
Samit Basu
@thepersoniamnow
Can't blame them, they still got scores to settle and Japan has done nothing to apologize.
Additionally, Japan's throwing gasoline into fire by refusing to return the Diaoyu Islands to the Republic of China as agreed per the terms of surrender, and claiming the Liancourt Rocks.
Hence this can only be settled by war, and things aren't looking so good for Japan if a war was to break out.
Akie
Serious and imminent threat ? Since the end of WW2, more than 70 years passed, there has been no wars against Japan, no occupations of Japan, no killings of Japanese people, no burnings of Japanese houses, no control of Japanese govt, where are the threats ? Instead, Japan gets $trillions from Northeast Nations in trade, Japan becomes No3 in the world because of the peaceful neighbourhoods, Japanese movies, arts are anywhere in Northeast Asia, Japanese people travel freely in neighbourhood like family members visiting relatives. Call these are threats ? Honestly ? No lying ?
smithinjapan
Samit Basu: "Can't blame them, they still got scores to settle and Japan has done nothing to apologize."
Exactly! But they would rather claim the anger is unjustified and give Japan the means to repeat what it did before, saying THAT is justified.
extanker
Oh no, North Korea has done nothing to make Japan think it is still a threat. Oh, wait...
https://japantoday.com/category/politics/Japan-replaces-U.S.-as-N-Korea's-most-vilified-imperialist-enemy
ThePBot
Is this spoken without the context of Imperial Japan's nationalism and hatred that affected both of those countries?
Wakarimasen
Blah blah. What? They are going to invade? Nuke Japan? fire a few missiles?
Utter scaremongering nonsense.
macv
@ AkieAug. 28 11:11 pm JST thank you !!
Serious and imminent threat ? Since the end of WW2, more than 70 years passed, there has been no wars against Japan, no occupations of Japan, no killings of Japanese people, no burnings of Japanese houses, no control of Japanese govt, where are the threats ? Instead, Japan gets $trillions from Northeast Nations in trade, Japan becomes No3 in the world because of the peaceful neighbourhoods, Japanese movies, arts are anywhere in Northeast Asia, Japanese people travel freely in neighbourhood like family members visiting relatives. Call these are threats ? Honestly ? No lying ?
OssanAmerica
How quickly some people forget that NK is the only country that has lobbed missiles over Japan several times during this peaceful 70 years.
macv
I deal with North Koreans on a regular basis as a volunteer. None have violent intentions towards Japan which I find remarkable considering what Japan did to Korea historically and how Japan treats Koreans to this day. They just want to live in peace and prosper, would like to eliminate the human rights abuses of their regime just like sane Americans wish to eliminate the insanity of their prison system and decent Japanese wish to eliminate human rights abuses in Japan.