Tensions High against North Korea

Japan and United States are working together for putting pressure on North Korea, a regime which keeps on intimidating neighbor nations in Northeast Asia. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Vice-President Mike Pence stood side by side to announce that all options were on the table, indicating possibility of military option against North Korea. They urged China to take effective measures to persuade that unreasonable regime to abandon development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

In the meeting at Prime Minister’s Residence on Tuesday, Pence insisted that peace would come with strength. While it was said in a context of enhancing U.S.-Japan alliance, Pence’s comment was misinterpreted by Japanese media as he was relying on “power” in terms of dealing with North Korean issue. Abe supported the idea of Donald Trump administration to include every option against North Korea.

Pence also required cooperation of South Korea and China. According to a Japanese official, Pence expressed his understanding that China shared the same concern over the rogue nation and he expected China to take steps beyond an import ban on North Korean coal. Abe’s stance was not so much definitive as Pence’s determination. While he emphasized necessity of peaceful solution, Abe demanded pressure on North Korea to urge them engage with serious dialogue.

It was likely that Pence made this visit to Asian countries including Japan or North Korea to announce the end of strategic patience, the policy toward North Korea taken by Barack Obama administration. “As President Trump has made clear to the world, the era of strategic patience is over,” said Pence in his address on U.S.S. Ronald Reagan in the port of Yokosuka on Wednesday. He reminded U.S. Navy personnel that North Korea was the most dangerous and urgent threat to the peace and security of the Asia Pacific.

Trump administration keeps on raising tension. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that U.S. government was considering North Korea to be relisted on State Sponsors of Terrorism. “An unchecked Iran has the potential to follow the same path as North Korea,” told Tillerson in his press conference. By listing North Korean on the list, U.S. expects stricter sanction of international monetary organizations.

To what extent can Japan follow U.S. hardliner strategy? “I have been requesting various cooperation of U.S. for evacuation of Japanese abductees in North Korea, in case possible event happens,” said Abe in a meeting on Thursday. City of Osaki, Miyazaki, broadcast wrong information that there was a possibility of a missile landing on the city on Wednesday. The city office received over five hundred of calls reconfirming the alert. The escalation cannot be said as not causing unexpected panic in Japan.