• Japan increasingly nervous about nukes as North Korea warns they will ‘pay a dear price’ for backing
    55 replies, posted
[quote=National Post] TOKYO — It’s easy to write off North Korea’s threats to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile as bluster: it has never demonstrated the capability to deploy a missile that could reach the Pacific island of Guam, let alone the mainland U.S. But what about Japan? Though it remains a highly unlikely scenario, Japanese officials have long feared that if North Korea ever decides to play its nuclear card it has not only the means but several potential motives for launching an attack on Tokyo or major U.S. military installations on Japan’s main island. And while a conventional missile attack is far more likely, Tokyo is taking North Korea’s nuclear rhetoric seriously. On Monday, amid reports North Korea is preparing a missile launch or another nuclear test, Japanese officials said they have stepped up measures to ensure the nation’s safety. Japanese media reported over the weekend that the defense minister has put destroyers with missile interception systems on alert to shoot down any missile or missile debris that appears to be headed for Japanese territory. “We are doing all we can to protect the safety of our nation,” said chief Cabinet spokesman Yoshihide Suga, though he and Ministry of Defense officials refused to confirm the reports about the naval alert, saying they do not want to “show their cards” to North Korea. [B] North Korea, meanwhile, issued a new threat against Japan. “We once again warn Japan against blindly toeing the U.S. policy,” said an editorial Monday in the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of its ruling party. “It will have to pay a dear price for its imprudent behavior.”[/B] Following North Korea’s third nuclear test in February, Japanese experts have increasingly voiced concerns that North Korea may already be able to hit — or at least target — U.S. bases and major population centers with nuclear warheads loaded onto its medium-range Rodong missiles. “The threat level has jumped” following the nuclear test, said Narushige Michishita, a former Ministry of Defense official and director of the Security and International Studies Program at Tokyo’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. He said Japan would be a particularly tempting target because it is close enough to feasibly reach with a conventionally or nuclear-armed missile, and the persistent animosity and distrust dating back to Japan’s colonization of the Korean Peninsula in 1910 provides an ideological motive. Also, a threat against Japan could be used to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Washington. North Korea could, for example, fire one or more Rodong missiles toward Tokyo but have them fall short to frighten Japan’s leaders into making concessions, stay out of a conflict on the peninsula or oppose moves by the U.S. forces in Japan to assist the South Koreans, lest Tokyo suffer a real attack. “Given North Korea’s past adventurism, this scenario is within the range of its rational choices,” Michishita wrote. Officials stress that simply having the ability to launch an attack does not mean it would be a success. They also say North Korea is not known to have actually deployed any nuclear-tipped missiles. [/quote] [url="http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/08/japan-increasingly-nervous-about-nukes-as-north-korea-warns-they-will-pay-a-dear-price-for-backing-u-s/"]Source[/url]. I really hope nothing happens.
When will they just collapse and do the world a favor?
I'm not really educated in this subject, but WHY is North Korea so aggressive?
[QUOTE=Jellyman;41574026]I'm not really educated in this subject, but WHY is North Korea so aggressive?[/QUOTE] its ruled by a tyrannical government which had generations of brainwashing and hatred against capitalism, they actually believe they can win wars and kim jong-un & his forefathers were gods.
[QUOTE=Jellyman;41574026]I'm not really educated in this subject, but WHY is North Korea so aggressive?[/QUOTE] "When you're weak, appear strong"
Oh look, more empty threats from NK yet [I]again[/I], how wonderful.
[QUOTE=Jellyman;41574026]I'm not really educated in this subject, but WHY is North Korea so aggressive?[/QUOTE] Famine.
[i]Here we go again![/i]
thank god it's a dear price and not a mean one.
[QUOTE=RenegadeCop;41574161]It's like a game of Civ 5. You just destroyed everything North Korea has except one city, you make peace with them out of pity, and they denounce you the next turn.[/QUOTE] If NK was in Civ V there would be no diplomacy button for them. Only war
Ro[b]dong[/b] missiles
Man, nukes and Japan, they just can't get a break. "Declare war on the US, get nuked. Become allies with the US, get nuked. Fuck you world."
[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;41574248]If NK was in Civ V there would be no diplomacy button for them. Only war[/QUOTE] Actually they would pull a Gandhi.
Not many people know, but Japan is a defacto nuclear weapons state. Basically they have the resources and materials to produce a working nuclear bomb in the space of only a few months.
North Korea is just going to keep waving their sword in the air. I doubt any of the elite there are dumb enough to ruin the paradise they've built for themselves.
[QUOTE=download;41574320]Not many people know, but Japan is a defacto nuclear weapons state. Basically they have the resources and materials to produce a working nuclear bomb in the space of only a few months.[/QUOTE] a few months? tbh it'd seem a lot shorter.
[video=youtube;dTAAsCNK7RA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA[/video] When will they finally stop and just nuke themselves.
JP should just say the hell with it and nuke NK just so they shut up and stop dick waving
I wonder if the Japanese people are as apathetic to North Korea as the South Korean people is.
[QUOTE=areolop;41574515]JP should just say the hell with it and nuke NK just so they shut up and stop dick waving[/QUOTE] They can't though at the moment because they are not allowed to declare war unless someone declares war on them and attack.
[QUOTE=Fangz;41574579]They can't though at the moment because they are not allowed to declare war unless someone declares war on them and attack.[/QUOTE] And even if that weren't the case it would be incredibly unwise to launch a nuclear strike on another country unless as a last resort.
[QUOTE=Megafan;41574595]And even if that weren't the case it would be incredibly unwise to launch a nuclear strike on another country unless as a last resort.[/QUOTE] Nor do they have any nukes IIRC.
[QUOTE=Megafan;41574595]And even if that weren't the case it would be incredibly unwise to launch a nuclear strike on another country unless as a last resort.[/QUOTE] The day we see another nuclear weapon directly used as an act of aggression and not just for testing is going to be the start of something horrible, I presume. Nukes are bargaining tools by this point, not something anyone with any sort of intelligence would dare to use lest they start a worldwide tension and possible thermonuclear war. Even North Korea's not dumb enough to get themselves wiped off the face of the Earth. Metaphorically they're dumb, shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly while trying to make a big bark and might as well have megaphones for mouths, but even their leaders seem to understand this beyond their self-gratified delusions since they always bitch and moan, threaten people, go silent for a while, and then rinse and repeat.
[QUOTE=Megafan;41574595]And even if that weren't the case it would be incredibly unwise to launch a nuclear strike on another country unless as a last resort.[/QUOTE] Yeah. There is a good reason nobody uses weapons of mass destruction. Because if it were fair game to use weapons of mass destruction on another country, then it's fair game for other countries to use weapons of mass destruction on you. It's a powerful threat, but a suicide move.
[QUOTE=certified;41574827]Nor do they have any nukes IIRC.[/QUOTE] Indeed, they don't.
Considering Japan's stance on nuclear weapons (the Peace Flame in Hiroshima won't ever go out until all nukes are destroyed), I highly doubt they'd ever even consider making a bomb unless there was a serious threat of annihilation from NK. And North Korea and 'serious threat' seem to contradict each other.
[QUOTE=Megafan;41574595]And even if that weren't the case it would be incredibly unwise to launch a nuclear strike on another country unless as a last resort.[/QUOTE] Japan would almost certainly not launch preemptively. Likewise I don't see NK ever launching against Japan. In the unlikely occurrence however that they did deploy a nuclear weapon against Japan, I don't imagine Japan needing to develop their own warheads as the US would likely almost immediately launch a nuclear retaliatory strike that would render North Korea completely inoperable as a nation. The issue with being the first idiot to deploy a nuke in a modern setting is that you need to be made an example of. Your destruction needs to be so complete and rapid that other nations who do manage to develop a nuclear weapon plus delivery system no longer believe their hardware to be the trump card they once believed. It is, unfortunately, the only logical response.
[QUOTE=download;41574320]Not many people know, but Japan is a defacto nuclear weapons state. Basically they have the resources and materials to produce a working nuclear bomb in the space of only a few months.[/QUOTE] They'd just call us instead. We've got a 90 minutes or the next one's free policy on our warheads![QUOTE=Simski;41574901]Yeah. There is a good reason nobody uses weapons of mass destruction. Because if it were fair game to use weapons of mass destruction on another country, then it's fair game for other countries to use weapons of mass destruction on you. It's a powerful threat, but a suicide move.[/QUOTE] How powerful of a threat is it actually if everyone knows you won't use 'em, though? At this point it sounds no different than the everything proof shield that every 3rd grader has pulled out at one point. I wouldn't even mention the nukes unless my finger was already halfway through pressing the button. No sense even bringing them up if they're not gonna get used. [QUOTE=GunFox;41575021]Japan would almost certainly not launch preemptively. Likewise I don't see NK ever launching against Japan. In the unlikely occurrence however that they did deploy a nuclear weapon against Japan, I don't imagine Japan needing to develop their own warheads as the US would likely almost immediately launch a nuclear retaliatory strike that would render North Korea completely inoperable as a nation. The issue with being the first idiot to deploy a nuke in a modern setting is that you need to be made an example of. Your destruction needs to be so complete and rapid that other nations who do manage to develop a nuclear weapon plus delivery system no longer believe their hardware to be the trump card they once believed. It is, unfortunately, the only logical response.[/QUOTE] Aaaaannnnd then we'll all be buying food with bottlecaps. GG World.
Looks like it's that time of the year for North Korean dick waving.
North Korean announcements always sound so cheesey. There's something about them, like they try to speak english with an unorthodox vocabulary as possible.
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