U.S.-N Korea thaw a blow to Japan

By Kakumi Kobayashi

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15 Comments

OssanULTRA at 06:15 AM JST - 28th June

All Japan has to do is put that Article 9 into the recycle Bin, a couple more live fire excercises in Guam, with mid-air refueling both ways, and maybe get that guy Ishiba to say that word "pre-emptive" again. All the folks in Japan against "normalizing" Japan's military are what gives North Korea the cojones to slap Japan around.
rajakumar at 06:17 AM JST - 28th June

South koreans,north koreans and japan peace up. New problem cropping up,north koreans calling Lee myung bak ,a traitor.
WMD at 10:27 AM JST - 28th June

Ha ha ha! North Korea fools the oh so gullible americans yet gain. They are for sure continuing to improve their nuclear weapons. Still what can you expect from the bush government??
wilbur at 02:19 PM JST - 28th June

its hard to believe japan's diplomatic presence could become smaller...what's smaller than non-existant ?
Maruku at 05:39 PM JST - 28th June

U.S.-N Korea thaw a blow to Japan .... mmmm Interesting title. They come every 2 or 5 years.

U.S.-Iran thaw a blow to Iraq, U.S.-Angola thaw a blow to South Africa, U.S.-Ethiopia thaw a blow to Eritrea, U.S.-Lebanon thaw a blow to Syria, U.S.-Columbia thaw a blow to Columbia, ...

I wonder ... Could the US with a consistent foreign policy please step up?
Seiharinokaze at 06:09 PM JST - 28th June

Well this is the approach that America naturally if not consistently takes toward a country with nukes and rich mineral resources. To see it from a different angle, scramble game for 20 million tons of uranium deposit has already begun among US, Russia and China by excluding Japan while trying to put most of the expenses to dismantle the nuke to her account.
Maruku at 06:45 PM JST - 28th June

Seihari's wind. If the NKs are sitting on that much uranium then my country has major competition to supply the majors with their nuke needs. mmm ... thats bad for my country. But I'd be interested to see the US and NK in a shagfest for resources vs. values.
wilbur at 08:46 PM JST - 28th June

interesting choice of words, as this seems to be what the US and NK said to japan...blow
GW at 11:56 AM JST - 29th June

Japan has been in an extrememly weak position wrt the abductees, the US & others have tried to help Jpn out but Jpn just dragged its butt of late, just like it did for decades before Koizumis surprise rtn home with extra passengers.

The other countries cant sit around for decades while Jpn does nothing, hence they have clearly decided to try to get somewhere with NKs nukes which is far far more important than the abductees, sorry Jpn, it just is. Time to suck it up & get with the program or be left on the sidelines.

And why not try to at least appear to be proactive regarding yr abducted citizens so you dont look so neutered!
Fighton at 12:02 PM JST - 29th June

North Korea fools America again!! Kim did it to Clinton, and now Bush...

How typical??
Sarge at 12:27 PM JST - 29th June

Fighton - Kim hasn't fooled Bush. Most of the sanctions on N Korea are going to remain in place.
Farmboy at 02:44 PM JST - 29th June

North Korea has the capacity to blow up Japan. Now that capacity will be diminished a bit, though the extent of it remains to be seen. Japan should be happy about that, anyway. The abduction issue (most were abducted from 1977-1983 or so) should have been dealt with a long, long time ago by Japan itself, and is not the fault of the US.

From Wikipedia,

Despite pressure by Japanese parent groups, the Japanese government itself took no action because the now-defunct Socialist Party of Japan, which had maintained close ties with North Korea, vehemently denied the abductions.

I can't imagine a country that would put up with its citizens being abducted without retaliation, but Japan let this slide for many years, knowing full well that people were being abducted. The SDF IS empowered to act in self-defense, and if having citizens abducted doesn't call for self-defense, I don't know what does. No change in the constitution is required.

The US is certainly acting in its own interests, but the responsibility of dealing with abductions is not a US responsibility, in my opinion. Japan wimped out on this issue, and it's not the fault of the constitution, either. It IS sad for the families of the abductees, but they should direct their feelings toward the source of the problem, not toward the US.
PepinGalarga at 04:22 AM JST - 30th June

Seiharinokaze got it right, there must be either a lot of money to be made here for US companies, or strategic advantage of mineral resouces such as Uranium.

It's in Bush and Cheney's interest to open up NK now when he is in power and all his friends can sign all the deals for contruction and reconstruction...

NK is basically in the stone age, and their leaders have to realize there must be ways to get money into their pot. Many countries have opened up to the US before without having to undermine their power, but at a very high cost, and alienation from their neighbors.

Japan should have hired Chuck Norris back in the 80's to get those people back. Now Chuck may need a couple extra guys to do the job. Is there any proof that these hostages are still even alive? They may have been brainwashed to the point that they wont want to come back to Japan.
apecNetworks at 05:21 AM JST - 30th June

The six-nation framework is reaching its successful conclusion and Japan would be wise to try working w/ the dynamics involved. The abduction issue is important, but to have the DPRK to have some accountability in it's nuclear development is a higher priority. Hopefully, the last remnant of the Cold War can be relinquished into the dustbin of history, and a new chapter can be written. It is in the best interest of all parties to reach a conclusion. This will be a successful historical event for the Bush Administration.
PepinGalarga at 12:25 PM JST - 30th June

What I think, is that as NK opens up, perhaps the abducted Japanese can be finally found while working in the Yoshinoyas, Starbucks, McDonalds and KFC's that will be open by the buttload before the end of this year!