The feared arms race in our part of the world due to North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests may have begun.
Japan’s Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera last Friday announced plans to purchase air-to-surface missiles for inclusion in the arsenal of Japanese jet fighters. These missiles with a range of some 900 kilometers are to be purchased from the United States. Japan also plans to acquire missiles with a shorter range of 500 kilometers from Norway.
Japan has maintained an exclusively self-defense policy for its armed forces, since the end of World War II when, under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, it adopted a pacifist constitution. The policy bans the use of force as a means of settling international disputes. Thus, Japan’s military force is designed for self-defense.
The proposed purchase of long-range missiles will mark a departure from this policy. The distance between Japan and Korea is only 926 kilometers. Japan’s jet fighters need not go far from its shores to be able strike at targets in Korea itself.
In one of its recent long-range missile tests, North Korea had fired one which flew right over Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, and landed in the Pacific Ocean. North Korea wanted to demonstrate that its missiles, armed with nuclear warheads, could easily reach the United States mainland. But in the process, it had violated Japanese territory.
The missile which flew over Hokkaido reportedly jolted millions of Japanese awake in the early hours of dawn as sirens blared. It was followed by a statement from North Korea: “The four islands of the archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche” – Juche referring to North Korea’s national policy of self-reliance.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had then declared Japan would “never tolerate such dangerous provocation that threatens peace.” He said: “If North Korea continues to walk down this path, it has no bright future.”
Prime Minister Abe’s words now seem to be about to be followed by concrete action – the acquisition of long-range missiles for firing by its jet fighters. Its planes need not enter Korean airspace to fire missiles into Korean territory, possibly at the nuclear test centers and the missile launch sites.
The war of words has thus far been largely between North Korea and the US, with Kim Jong Un repeatedly boasting that its nuclear missiles can now hit any major city on the US mainland, and President Donald Trump ordering three aircraft carriers and their complement of destroyers and other attack ships into the area and sending bombers flying over Korean territory.
But now we have a third country – Japan – entering the picture, preparing to arm itself with its own missiles. We can only hope that peace efforts, especially those involving China, the closest ally of North Korea, will succeed in resolving differences before they escalate into open warfare that is bound to explode beyond the confines of the region.
