Comment by DeOrio

October 9, 2006 @ 11:11 pm

This is aimed directly at Abe. The timing of the announcement and the test are a response to his pre-election rhetoric and an attempt by Kim Jong Il to determine the tenor of the KFR’s relationship, or lack thereof, with the new Abe administration. Fox News will be impervious to this, but this test, KCNA’s announcement about American aggression notwithstanding, is not about the US. This is a test for Abe Shinzo. It’s as if Kim is saying, “I heard you, Mr. Prime Minister. What’ll it be?”

Comment by Cal Hobbs

October 10, 2006 @ 4:25 am

Perhaps Abe should test fire a weapon or two?

Comment by DeOrio

October 10, 2006 @ 5:04 am

He broached the possibility this summer after the DPRK fired seven missiles into the Sea of Japan. He said, basically, that Japan should keep the option of destroying North Korean launch facilities open in the case of a clear and imminent threat. While I don’t think an underground test is a clear and imminent threat, my threshold for what seems like a good time to use force is clearly higher than it is for most countries’ governments.
The pressure is definitely on Prime Minister Abe now and he’ll have to make some difficult decisions pretty early on in his administration.
As for weapons, though, Japan has no nukes. There is talk now among chatterers such as myself that the government might revisit the issue. I don’t think they’d see the protests (largely organized by labor unions, who can compel members to attend protests) that they saw in 1982, though. It seems that public sentiment is more attuned to the possibility of assertive international involvement than it was years ago, too.