Cold War Veterans Blog

Japan warns N.Korea amid signs missile test imminent





Reuters -
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan warned North Korea on Sunday of "a harsh response" from Tokyo and Washington if it fired a long-range missile, as media reports suggested that the secretive state could be hours away from a test launch.

By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan warned North Korea on Sunday of "a harsh response" from Tokyo and Washington if it fired a long-range missile, as media reports suggested that the secretive state could be hours away from a test launch.

Foreign Minister Taro Aso said in a television interview that Japan would seek an immediate meeting of the U.N. Security Council if Pyongyang went ahead with an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

He voiced concern about the possibility of a missile dropping on Japan, but toned down a remark made in an earlier interview that Japan would automatically regard this as an attack.


"We will not right away view it as a military act," he said.

A Japanese government official was quoted by the Japanese daily Sankei Shimbuna as saying that North Korea had told its people to raise the national flag at 2:00 pm (0500 GMT) on Sunday and to then monitor television for a "message to the people".

CBS News reported that South Korea's ambassador to the United States, Lee Tae-sik, had told Korean correspondents in Washington that North Korea may have fueled the missile already.

"Satellite photos confirmed scores of fuel tanks near the missile launch pad. We are not sure whether they had already completed fuelling or located (the tanks) there to fuel it," Lee was quoted as saying.

Aso stopped short of saying what Japan and the United States would do in the event of a launch.But he said: "The responses will be rather harsh".

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted diplomatic sources in Seoul as saying a missile test could come on Sunday or Monday.





Crisis looms what will and should be our response to these missle tests. How Long can we wait before military action is inevitable ? Have we waited too long as North Koreas capabilities increase. Is this just another blackmail attempt on west for food and fuel. North Koreas only option is export technology or threaten too until we give them aid.