Gov't apologizes for mistakenly reporting launch of N Korean rocket

Saturday 04th April, 06:15 PM JST

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smithinjapan at 01:18 AM JST - 5th April

KingRat: " That debate was so never started by any other than perhaps you."

Actually, no. It was started by you saying , "It's not paranoia when it's real Smitty!" (and adding after to the moderators that you never mentioned anyone's names!). To this I said that the rocket launch was not real, backing up my claims that the mistake of saying a rocket was launched was caused by fear and paranoia (and confusion). That's how this started. After that you started on with the Japan bashing, etc.

"But for the rest of us who can see clearly above the fog of imperial grudge will never see the righteousness in going along with one of the worlds resort of dangerous nutheads."

Hahaha... here we go again. Show me where I have said one good thing about North Korea. ONE! I never said I go along with North Korea, except to say that if they are launching a rocket bearing a satellite then they have as much right to do so as Japan launching an Osaka-made rocket a few months ago. If it flies over Japan, that's because as UnagiDon says that's the flight path needed to give it the necessary boost to get out of orbit, and not a deliberate aim at Japan (although I have no doubt they relish in that fact!).

"It's as much of a long shot as, Why are your name refering to be in a country that you obviously despise. At least its people."

And again. I despise Japan one bit, or it's people. Among the Japanese there are a few I despite, such as Taro Aso and Ozawa, and Ichiro (who I mentioned today I feel sorry for and hope he recovers).

"Smiths = never speak in Japan's favor!"

That's all you want, isn't it? Just to hear about how great Japan is. Well, people with confidence in themselves and their country don't NEED to hear constantly about how great they are from other people... they feel it themselves. They don't need praise, and they can accept criticism without resorting to childlike pouting and accusations of 'Japan-hating/bashing', etc. I said all this on the '80% of Japanese youth proud of nationality' thread.

Moderator: Smithinjapan and KingRat, that's enough petty sniping. Focus your comments on the topic, not at each other.
smithinjapan at 01:24 AM JST - 5th April

Allright, I'm off peeps. It's been a lot of fun. I stand behind everything I said, and thank UnagiDon for the simple physics lesson. Hopefully there's no launch while we sleep, and none at all for that matter, but if there is here's hoping nothing rains down on this lovely little land (or that if need be they actually can shoot it down!). More than that, though, if there's a launch I hope that people react as much as possible with cool heads, and that those cool heads prevail. I do want to wake up, after all.

Sweet dreams, all.
smithinjapan at 01:26 AM JST - 5th April

Jeez... I really am tired. I meant "I DO NOT despise Japan one bit, or it's people", not "I despise Japan one bit, or it's people."
OssanAmerica at 02:58 AM JST - 5th April

Ossan: "Those countries are not in the flight path."

Nope. But who do you think stands to lose the most from an impending >war?

If there is a war, which there won't be as I have explained to you a hundred times, the only country that will cease to exist is your beloved North Korea. That's all. Please stop with your whining about all this damage that NKorea is supposed to inflict on South Korea and Japan. China will not permit NKOrea to start any war. Period.

Oh you poor, bitter, man. You don't understand that if North Korea >really, and mean REALLY decided to go to war it would be a war the likes >of which have never been seen?

You poor ignorant child, The US is obligated to defend South Korea and Japan if attacked by North Korea. China is obligated to defend NKorea from any attack under a 1961 treaty. NKorea can cry "war" as much as they like but they aren't allowed to start one.

Much as you would love me to love the North Korean regime, I do not -- >that simply shows your ignorance.

Not at all, your views whenever NKorea is the topic always mirrors the NKorean govt's position perfectly without fail. This thread is just another example.

But then again, you've always been one of the 'if you're not with us >you're against us' crowd, so how could my criticism of Japan on this >issue NOT mean I wish to defect to North Korea?

smith you're a rather well known j-basher on this site and that's fine since everyone's entitled to their own opinions. But the downside of having such an agenda is that at some point such as now, when the entire world is condeming NKorea for their action and you're out ther in left field criticising and blaming Japan, well that agenda starts looking both ridicuous and exposed.

But go ahead and tell all the others laughing at this Japanese gaffe and >pointing out the paranoia of the J-government (and they even say the J->people!) that they are actually really in favour of the Kim regime, >since that's your logic.

Nope, just you.
radar123 at 03:27 AM JST - 5th April

If they fire one, we'll fire one. Launch officer(danno,hawaii 50): roger, "firing one" (the Bedford Incident,1965, Richard Widmark)
tugalsan at 04:20 AM JST - 5th April

Japan will get isolated, if the fire starts. No other asian country (e.g. china or s.korea) will support japan in this raw. we haven't forgotten the WW2.
grafton at 05:02 AM JST - 5th April

For a long time China pulled the strings that got NK to dance, but occasionally NK did a little song & dance of it’s own, though nothing that would have upset their big brother next door. Times however have changed & maybe today China has outgrown this childish little crazy next door & maybe the crazy isn’t so crazy that they haven’t realised that. Now they have to put on a show of their own in an effort to get more free gifts from the world that don’t want them to start a war. They remember as we do that it was their doing that brought about the war they lost in the1950s. There is a truce now not because they didn’t lose but because their big brother China sent in thousands of deposable troops, The world however, & China in particular, have moved on from then, China now has a world economy that they really rather enjoy & the Chinese people are not going to be so keen to throw their lives away as they were in the 50s.

If Japan were to shoot this projectile down as it passed over their territory, assuming that they could, they would have a right to do so that even the Chinese couldn’t argue against. NK can call it an act of war but they will not declare war, because they know that this time China is not going to risk it’s place in the new world order just to support an out of control little state that used to be of use to them but no longer is. China may not be too keen to have the US sitting just across from their border so they may be happy to pick up what is left of NK after the US, South Korea & Japan have removed it’s current leadership. But even that today is doubtful, today China may not be as paranoid as they once were about having the US next door & when you think about it once the North has been re-united with the South there really isn’t need for the US to remain in South Korea, so that’s a money saving thing for the US & keeps China happy at the same time.

Really the removal of NK from the picture makes the entire region a lot safer for very one. Granted the Russian might get in on the act with their usual gun running to the dissidents but that isn’t likely to last too long, having food to eat when your hungry is a very good way of winning hearts & minds.

The only country that might not want the collapse of NK is SK, can they afford a re-unified Korea? Without a lot of help from the US & Japan the answer is no they can’t. They would have a lot of very confused & very hungry people to look after.

I suspect that Japan will shoot this projectile down if they can & I suspect that they do already have the support of the US to do so. The US cannot be the country to do the shooting, Japan is not their country & for the US to shoot first would be an act of was & would activate the NK-Chinese treaty, Japan in an act of self defence can shoot first & then leave it to NK to declare war which in turn would activate the support of the US-Japan-South Korea treaty.

NK is not going to commit suicide, even if that is what all their neighbour would be happy for them to do. They might be crazy but they are not that stupid.

So, Japan, if you can shoot it down.
KingRat at 05:46 AM JST - 5th April

"Japan will get isolated, if the fire starts. No other asian country (e.g. china or s.korea) will support japan in this raw. we haven't forgotten the WW2."

..

tugalsan: And this is related to NK how?

Flashing your grudge in public always looks nice.
apecNetworks at 06:51 AM JST - 5th April

To Smithinjapan:

You may wish to avoid a visit to the Continental US for a couple years. Your views would be purged/censored covertly in the US. My views are not considered "wonderful", sooooo.......My sources are good, and some sort of Command Decision was made around late Summer/early Fall 2008, and I have been waiting patiently to see what was decided. Summer 2009? Anyway, I do find various perspectives on a problem invaluable in academics, so I read all your posts on this thread. I'm not in govt., so my perspective is molded from available public info such as yours which has attracted people who DO know what the actual hidden policy is.
tjfrancis at 06:57 AM JST - 5th April

* ahem * anyobody else enjoying the 83 posts mostly written by grafton, UnagiDon, smithinjapan and KingRat ?
grafton at 08:02 AM JST - 5th April

tjfrancis at 06:57 AM JST - 5th April

“* ahem * anyobody else enjoying the 83 posts mostly written by grafton, UnagiDon, smithinjapan and KingRat ?”

The North Koreans are going to fire a seriously dodgy “projectile over Japan & if a few “friends wish to discuss this is that so bad? Speaking for the rest of those named I will thank you for saying that you enjoyed reading our posts.
Louhk101 at 09:39 AM JST - 5th April

If you ask me, some of you... individuals are making a big issue out of this when really there is no need. You act as if every facet of the military (no matter the government in control of it) is going to be without error. let me clue you in folks. It's never going to be. You condemn the Japanese government for giving a damn enough about it's people (error or not) to issue a warning. This in it's self tells me a lot about most of you. I could point out numerous blunders made by various military/governments that would make this issue seem so non issue. But what would that solve? Nothing. Because you already have your minds made up about japan, and it's peoples, military, and civilian alike. In fact I'd wager you don't want to see japan be successful at anything. Like it or not, japan is here to stay. get over it, and get over yourselves....or not. it's your life. waste it as you see fit. (shruggs)
tjfrancis at 11:49 AM JST - 5th April

grafton, believe it or not, I wasn't being sarcastic. seriously, it was quite interesting.
smithinjapan at 01:53 PM JST - 5th April

Ossan: Everyone on of your 'replies' to my comments smack of absolute hypocrisy, and not a single one of them provides any ounce of logic to your claims. "There won't be a war because I said there won't" is not a reason why there will not be a war, my friend. "You're a J-basher because there are many times you don't stand up for Japan and praise them as our lapdog" (I added some words there to para-phrase), etc. And I like your little 'you poor little boy'-like comments in reply to my 'sad, bitter man' -- kind of like, "I'm rubber, you're glue!"

Anyway, as I said to both you and KingRat, it's funny to watch you guys come on to posts that ridicule the J-government and what not and you call 99% of the people on the site (for again, that's the percentage of those on here who are laughing at the J-government over this blunder) "J-bashers" because you are embarrassed (again) over what they have done.

You have slightly more credibility when it comes to whaling, but I stand behind what I said before: you criticize Japan, you are a 'J-basher', you criticize US policy, you're an "anti-American" (or Americaphile in disguise!), you don't like whaling you're an 'eco-terrorist'. This is the summation of nearly every single one of your arguments on JT, particularly false launch reports which you cannot defend.

Come on, man. Get real, and get with the times. The 'with us or against us' mentalities is why people like Obama are in Europe trying to mend the ties that bush destroyed. That kind of mentality fails in issues like this as well. I don't have to praise Japan's military for reporting a false rocket launch in order to condemn NKorea, nor do I automatically praise them for mocking the J-government and media for the clear and apparent hysteria. I mean, I could just as easily, by your logic, state that since you are clearly against NKorea on this matter you therefore agree that Japan is correct for falsely claiming a rocket launch and reporting it all over the media.

Fortunately, I'm among the majority of people in the world who know there are no such black and whites on issues like these, war, guns, etc. I am against NKorea and their policies 100%, but nowhere does that mean I have to agree with gaffes and potentially dangerous false reports.
nurse13 at 08:02 PM JST - 6th April

It’s natural to feel uneasy at such stressful times. Uneasiness sometimes results in misjudgments. I’m sure the Japanese government purpose was to ensure the safety of its people. However, I’m glad to know that the Japanese government admitted the error.