Japan’s defense minister asserted today that North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities have grown to an ‘unprecedented, critical and imminent’ level, requiring ‘different responses’ to the threat.
The minister, Itsunori Odonera, said that this rising threat compels his country to endorse the U.S. view that ‘all options’ must be considered, which President Donald Trump says includes possible military action. Japan was alarmed by North Korea twice launching missiles over Japanese territory, in August and in September.
Odonera’s comments, made through an interpreter, came at the outset of a so-called trilateral meeting in the Philippines with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and South Korea’s defense minister, Song Young-moo. Each made statements about North Korea before a group of reporters and news cameras, but none took questions.
Japan’s Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said he endorses the US view that ‘all options are on the table’ when it comes to taking action against North Korea
Mattis was in the Philippines to attend portions of a two-day meeting of defense ministers from the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He used the occasion to hold a three-way meeting with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea. He is scheduled later in the week to travel to Seoul to attend annual consultative talks with the South Korean government, which is expected to focus mostly on North Korea.
In remarks that were notably explicit about the North Korean threat, Odonera said North Korea’s most recent underground nuclear test could have been a hydrogen bomb, which is vastly more powerful than an atomic bomb.
‘The country has steadfastly improved it nuclear and missiles capability,’ said Onodera. He added: ‘The threat posed by North Korea has grown to the unprecedented, critical and imminent level.’
‘Therefore, we have to take calibrated and different responses to meet that level of threat,’ he said, without elaborating on what ‘different’ responses Japan favors.
Trump has said he will resolve the North Korea problem alone if necessary, to prevent the North from gaining the capability to attack the United States with a nuclear-armed missile.
His remarks came shortly after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to work with the US, China and Russia to contain North Korea’s nuclear threat with ‘strong, resolute diplomacy’, as he ‘humbly’ accepted his landslide victory in a snap election.
Fresh from clinching a two-thirds ‘super-majority’ that enables the nationalist premier to realize his dream of revising Japan’s pacifist constitution, Abe vowed to forge a ‘national consensus’ on the divisive issue.
Addressing reporters on his election win, Abe said he would ‘confirm close co-operation’ on North Korea with Donald Trump when the US president visits Japan next month and then discuss the issue with the Chinese and Russian leaders.
‘I have renewed my determination to secure people’s lives and peaceful living, no matter what,’ said the 63-year-old leader of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Abe and Trump spoke on by phone after the Japaneses premier’s win on Sunday and agreed to work together to raise pressure on North Korea.
The two leaders will play golf together on November 5, when Trump makes his first visit to Japan as president, Yasutoshi Nishimura, a deputy chief cabinet secretary, told reporters.
During their 30-minute phone call, Abe told Trump that he had urged necessity of ‘placing as much pressure as possible on North Korea so it will change its policies under the unshakable Japan-US alliance’, a government official told Japan Today.
The leaders agreed to further discuss their approach to North Korea at their meeting next month.
North Korea, which has threatened to ‘sink’ Japan and fired two missiles over its northern islands, dominated the 12-day election campaign that Abe eventually won comfortably.
‘We will solve North Korea’s missile, nuclear and abduction issues with strong, resolute diplomacy,’ he said in reference to the abduction of Japanese by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the immediate term, the win likely means a continuation of the policies Abe has pursued since he took office in December 2012 – a hard line on North Korea, close ties with Washington, including more purchase of American missile interceptors, as well as a super-loose monetary policy and push for nuclear energy. Stocks rose in Tokyo on Monday morning.
Abe said he will have ‘deep discussion’ on North Korean policies with President Donald Trump during his planned Nov. 5-7 visit in Japan.
It comes after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a snap election and raised the prospect of amending Japan’s constitution to allow the country to attack others
Abe’s ruling coalition already has a two-thirds majority in the less powerful upper house. Having a so-called supermajority in both houses gives them virtually a free hand to push even divisive policies and legislation.
That would also increase Abe’s chances for achieving a constitutional revision, a goal his party and its nationalist supporters have advocated for years. They view the 1947 constitution as the legacy of Japan’s defeat in World War II and an imposition of the victor’s world order and values. The charter renounces the use of force in international conflicts and limits Japan’s troops to self-defense, although Japan has a well-equipped modern military that works closely with the U.S.
Any change to Japan’s constitution, which has never been amended, requires approval first by two-thirds of parliament, and then in a public referendum. Polls indicate that the Japanese public remains opposed to amendment.
The win indicates Abe has bounced back from the summer, when support ratings for his Cabinet plunged to 30 percent after accusations of government favoritism to people connected to him. For the first time since he took office nearly five years ago, he appeared vulnerable as both party leader and prime minister.
Mattis was somewhat more reserved in his remarks than Onodera, although he did slam Pyongyang for defying U.N. Security Council resolutions against its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. But the U.S. defense secretary did not mention any potential military action. Mattis instead emphasized a unified U.S.-Japan-South Korea position in pressuring the North to give up its nuclear program.
‘North Korea’s provocations threaten regional and global security,’ he said.
South Korea’s defense minister, Song, said that North Korea’s behavior is ‘becoming worse and worse.’
Earlier Monday, in brief remarks to reporters, Song was asked about the risk of war against North Korea. He said defense ministers bring a special perspective that cautions against an early use of force.
‘I want to emphasize that war is not as easy as the journalists make it sound in the press and the media,’ he said. ‘As defense ministers who are in charge of national defense and other high tech weapons such as ballistic missiles, we understand the very weight of engaging in a war and as such we will make all the efforts necessary to resolve the issue in a diplomatic and economic way as possible.’
He added: ‘However, if we are attacked then we will have to take firm actions.’