Days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s regime launched a volley of four missiles into waters near Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration is under pressure to consider obtaining the capability to destroy military targets in North Korea and other nations.
Hemmed in by a 70-year-old pacifist constitution, Japan has avoided arming itself with long-range missiles or bomber aircraft, instead relying on the US for the protection of its “nuclear umbrella.”
However, Japan is now describing its unstable neighbor as presenting a new level of threat, emboldening lawmakers seeking change.
“We should not rule out any method from consideration,” Japanese Minister of Defense Tomomi Inada told the National Diet yesterday, when asked about long-range strike capability. “We don’t have that capacity now and we have no plan to obtain it.”
Japan should use the deterrent effect of its alliance with the US to prevent any such attack becoming necessary, she said.
North Korea’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency said the latest launches on Monday, overseen by Kim, involved artillery units tasked with striking US bases in Japan.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said one missile landed about 200km from Japan’s northwest coast, and Japanese public broadcaster NHK said it landed closer to the country’s coastline than in any previous exercise.
Japan already has RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 and MMI-104F Patriot interceptors, which are aimed at halting incoming missiles. The government is also considering adopting the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD) that the US has begun to deploy in South Korea, but it could take years before any equipment is installed.
It is unclear how these defensive systems would cope with a barrage of missiles, known as a “saturation attack.”
“We may not be able to defend ourselves if North Korea launches a lot of missiles at once,” Japanese Democratic Party lawmaker Yuichi Goto said in the legislature. “I don’t understand why you don’t start” researching a long-range strike capability.
Narushige Michishita, a former Japanese Ministry of Defense official, expressed a similar view.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to spend more money on THAAD,” said Michishita, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. “I would rather go for acquiring better strike capability in order to strike a good balance between offense and defense.”
The debate is heating up as Japan prepares to welcome US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on his first visit to Japan next week.
Tillerson is to meet with Abe, and North Korea would be an important topic of discussion, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida said yesterday.
Japan’s concerns about its alliance with the US under US President Donald Trump were to some extent assuaged by the friendly reception Trump offered Abe when he visited last month.
However, some lawmakers have said Japan should become more self-reliant in defense terms to avoid the uncertainty created each time the US administration changes.
“We need to get things ready so that we are not in a panic if America’s thinking suddenly changes,” former Japanese minister of defense Itsunori Onodera said in an interview in January.
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