POLITICS: North Korea Threat Props Up Japan-US Alliance

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Analysis by Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO , Nov 16 2005 (IPS) - By pledging U.S. support for efforts to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, visiting President George W. Bush, on Wednesday, hinted at the importance of the alliance in countering Japan’s biggest security threat and also in tackling troubles elsewhere in the world.

Bush made his pledge at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the ancient capital of Kyoto, soon after the leaders held summit talks. Bush also made the right noises by saying that the U.S. continued to support Japan’s candidature for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.

“Many Japanese are not supportive of the Iraq war and Bush but they are also worried about North Korea’s nuclear weapons posing a threat to their security. The basic thinking is Japan has to work closely with the United States,” explained Prof. Koichi Ishimaya, a U.S. expert who teaches international relations at Shoin University.

The stalemate in the latest round of bilateral talks with North Korea, earlier this month, has added to the crisis in Japan with families of the abducted calling for more pressure on Pyongyang, including economic sanctions, to force a settlement.

North Korea has admitted to abducting 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s with the intention of training them for espionage. While five of the abductees have returned to Japan the fate of the other eight is uncertain, as also that of three other missing persons.

Wednesday’s high-level summit is important for Koizumi who has bent over backwards to accommodate the U.S. leader’s global campaign against terrorism by sending Japan’s Self Defence Forces (SDF) to Iraq and also extending the controversial dispatch into next year.

Koizumi is painfully aware of the difficulties of garnering public support for the SDF deployment as well as for new Japan-U.S. military realignment plans over the next six years that involves expansion of U.S. bases in Japan.

’’The government is banking on the tragic abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea and growing friction with China to paint a picture of calamity to the public, but we think Japan is acting as a puppet, following American orders that pose a risk to our security,” said Muneyuki Uno, a lawyer fighting for plaintiffs in a case against noise pollution from the Camp Zama U.S. military base in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture.

Under the new alliance, Camp Zama will be turned into one of the largest U.S. bases in the world with a new command organisation from the U.S. mainland, stationed side by side with the SDF, and commanding U.S. military forces, including army, navy and air force elements.

“Japan’s security is better protected by developing negotiations with problem countries rather than a new military alliance with the U.S. that advocates a policy of war to bring democracy,’’ said Tatsumi Hibana of the ‘Zama People against U.S. Bases’ . ‘’ We are also tired of having to put-up with the noise pollution, the lack of land for development and the accidents caused by unruly U.S. forces in our area.’’

Koizumi has already promised the relocation of U.S. bases to ease problems with local residents and the U.S. is expected to return about 10 percent of some 214 hectares of the site that hosts Camp Zama but the U.S. army will retain priority use in case of emergencies.

Analysts contend the base relocation pledges and the highlighting of Japan’s security interests, especially with regard to North Korea, represent a clever strategy that puts the U.S. bases issues straight on the table.

Indeed, the new blueprint for strengthening Japan-U.S. military activities, signed at the end of October, is promoted as the best response to maintain security in the “arc of instability”, that stretches from Far East to the Middle East.

Koizumi is also scheduled to visit Washington in January 2006 for further talks on security that includes several new drastic developments, such as a military role for Japan’s SDF in the U.S.-led global war on terrorism and the stationing of an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan for the first time by 2008.

Also to be discussed is the passage of a new Japanese constitution that paves the way for accepting a military role for the first time since Japan’s defeat in 1945 ending World War ll.

’’If the agreement materialises, peace will certainly be guaranteed in Asia and the entire world for a number of decades to come,” opined Hisahiko Okhazaki, a former diplomat and security analyst.

Okhazaki reflected the thinking of senior government officials when he pointed out that Japan will enjoy full security and prosperity as long as it is allied with the Anglo-American world.

But critics say the Bush visit served as a reminder of how deeply dependent Japan is on the U.S. on the one hand and how Koizumi is one of the few good friends Bush has in the world on the other.

Peace activists acknowledge the going is getting tough in Japan where the traditional pacifist leanings of the people appear weakening in the face of the growing military power of China, North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme and the unresolved kidnappings.

Recent polls indicate more than 70 percent of the population is supportive of constitutional reforms and a growing number-up to 50 percent now-do not oppose the extension of the SDF mission in Iraq on the grounds that their deployment has boosted Japan’s international standing.

Bush and Koizumi also discussed the latest stalemate to hit six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear programme in which Washington, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and Moscow are partners.

Bush was to travel, late Wednesday, to South Korea and hold talks with President Roh Moo-Hyun, before attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in the city of Busan, beginning Friday.

After attending the APEC forum, Bush, who arrived in Kyoto Tuesday night, will continue on an eight-day Asia tour which includes China and Mongolia