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U.S. Aides Divided as Change Is Seen in Korean Threat
After decades of worrying primarily about how to protect South Korea from a military strike from the North, Washington now believes that if the North Korean leadership lashes out, its wrath could be directed first at Japan â and at the American forces based there. American officials and Korea experts point to evidence that North Korea is investing heavily in medium- and long-range missiles that would be able to reach Tokyo and other major Japanese cities â and eventually even the West Coast of the United States. There is growing fear that the new North Korean threat may also include the sale of nuclear material to terrorists or states like Iran and Syria â longtime buyers of North Korean missiles and other weapons. "You've got two sets of challenges here," said one senior administration official who has been deeply involved in the Korea debate. "One is the challenge of maintaining a common front" with South Korea and Japan, he said, "given that people list the priorities in the different order: deterring war on the peninsula, preventing nuclear transfer to terrorists and preventing missile development." The second challenge, he said, is "coming up with the right mixture of a willingness to negotiate with a willingness to confront."The missiles that are of concern to Japan, American and Japanese officials say, have a political purpose far beyond their military capacity. They are increasingly viewed as a calculated effort to intimidate Japan and strike fear into its population to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Washington. One former Japanese intelligence official compared the North Korean strategy to the Soviet deployment two decades ago of SS-20 medium-range missiles able to reach Western Europe in an effort to pull NATO allies away from the United States, a comparison echoed within the Bush administration. (con't see link) Posted by: Anonymous 2003-05-11 |
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