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Japan Expected to Speed Missile Defenses
North Korean missile tests yesterday and today could propel Japan’s efforts to build a joint missile defense program with the United States, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, June 23). “The missile launches are a profound turning point for Japan’s security,” said Takehiko Yamamoto, professor of international politics and regional security at Waseda University in Tokyo. North Korea’s 1998 missile firing over Japan led Tokyo to increase missile defense cooperation between Tokyo and Washington, and yesterday’s test, experts said, would again affect Tokyo’s strategies. “The 1998 Taepodong 1 shock gave Japan a reason for going ahead with spy launches and beginning talks about a missile defense system,” Yamamoto said. “Today’s launches gave Japan another good reason for confirming the need for the system and developing it as soon as possible.” The recent tests were “a big surprise to Japan, which had thought the chances of North Korean missile launches were slim,” said Motoi Tamaki, director of the Modern Korea Institute and expert on the Japan-North Korea issue. “Due to the launches, public opinion in Japan will grow for swift development of interceptor missiles and may fuel a debate about proactive action against North Korea’s military threat,” Tamaki said. Japan and the United States signed a joint agreement last month to develop a missile interceptor for the ballistic missile system (see GSN, June 23). Japan began this fiscal year its next-generation Standard Missile 3 system with the United States which continues through March (see GSN, June 7). Dealings between Japan and North Korea have been difficult as a result of a dispute over the kidnapping of Japanese civilians by Pyongyang agents in the 1970s and 1980s. Japan Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a surprise visit to Pyongyang in 2002 to sign a joint declaration with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to halt long-range missile tests (see GSN, Sept. 17, 2002). “The launches will also seriously damage what Koizumi has achieved in his effort to normalize ties with North Korea,” said Tetsuro Kato, professor of Politics at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. “Today’s launches obviously violated the Japan-North Korea declaration and will automatically erase Koizumi’s diplomatic achievement over the North Korean issue” (Agence France-Presse/Todayonline.com, July 5).
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