Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Japan adopts hawkish view of red rival

Richard Lloyd Parry Seoul
Monday 14 April 1997 23:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

On the face of it, it was a momentous announcement. At a session of the Japanese Diet's Special Security Committee yesterday, the Foreign Minister, Yukihiko Ikeda, spoke of "various reports and information" of a most disturbing nature. "It is not that we have confirmed this," he cautioned, "but there are reports that North Korea has developed missiles with a range of more than 1,000km. There are certain reports that some have been deployed."

The weapon to which he was referring is a ballistic missile known as the Rodong-1 (or "Worker"), capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads. From the east coast of North Korea to the west coast of Japan is considerably less than 1,000 km (625 miles).

Mr Ikeda declined to reveal the origin of the "reports" but a similar one appeared last week in the Sankei Shimbun, the most anti-ommunist of Japan's daily newspapers. If true, they would not be a great surprise: the Institute of International Strategic Studies in London predicted last October that the Rodong-1 would be deployed in late 1996 or early 1997. Why then highlight the rumours now?

The fact is that, in the last few weeks, Tokyo's moderate diplomacy has changed dramatically. On the question of North Korea, Japan has been transformed from a cautious follower of the consensus, whose main concern was to avoid offending either South Korea or the United States, to the most hawkish of the countries directly concerned with the peninsula's fate.

The new policy has become most obvious in Japan's attitude towards food aid for North Korea. After two years of floods, the government in Pyongyang cannot feed its own people. After the first crop failure in 1995, Japan was one of the first to offer food. But now, in response to predictions of imminent famine, while the South has promised $6m (pounds 3.75m) of rice and the United States $10m, Japan is refusing to consider further aid.

The official reason is a story in itself. Earlier this year, information received from a North Korean defector appeared to confirm what was suspected for years: that spies from Pyongyang during the Seventies kidnapped more than a dozen Japanese, including a girl of 13, to serve as teachers of Japanese to trainee spies.

Others look for the answer in the realignment of conservative forces between the governing Liberal Democrats and the opposition New Frontier Party. But the most likely explanation lies far to the south in Okinawa, where 29,000 US servicemen are stationed. Since a young girl was gang raped by three US servicemen in 1995, Tokyo has come under intense pressure from Okinawans to send the Americans home. In persuading its own people to accept the continuing American presence, a missile-lobbing, childnapping near-neighbour is rather a useful tool - it is surely this which lies behind Japan's new hawkishness.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in