US vows to support jittery Japan
Pence confirms security commitment ironclad for nation living with North Korea nuclear threat
US Vice-President Mike Pence reiterated his country’s commitment to the security of Japan yesterday, as North Korea intensified concerns over its weapons programme with a vow to launch missile tests every week.
The North, which is intent on developing a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland United States, defied international pressure on Sunday with a test that failed immediately after launch.
As fears grow that it might also be preparing for its sixth nuclear weapons test, Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol said that its programme would only escalate.
“We’ll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis,” Han said, threatening all-out war if the US took any action against it.
Arriving in Tokyo for talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Pence hailed the two countries’ longstanding security ties.
“The alliance between the United States and Japan is the cornerstone of peace and security in north east Asia,” he said.
The Japanese leader called for a peaceful resolution to the North Korea tensions, but did not rule out the need for tough measures.
“It is a matter of paramount importance for us to seek diplomatic efforts as well as peaceable settlements of the issue,” Abe said.
“At the same time, dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless. It is necessary for us to exercise pressure.”
In South Korea on the first leg of an Asian tour, Pence visited the heavily fortified demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas and warned Pyongyang against further provocation.
North Korea could react to a potential US strike by targeting South Korea or Japan, and officials in both countries have been ill at ease with the more bellicose language deployed by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Pence pointed to Trump’s recent strikes on a Syrian airbase and an Islamic State complex in Afghanistan as a warning to Pyongyang not to underestimate the administration’s resolve.
However, Pence also played up the importance of coordination.
“The administration believes the most productive pathway forward is dialogue among the family of nations that can pressure North Korea into abandoning permanently and dismantling its nuclear and missile programmes,” he said.
During his election campaign, Trump called into question a mutual defence treaty between Japan and the United States, suggesting Tokyo should pay for its own security.
But Pence reassured his jittery hosts that those decades-old security commitments were ironclad, a necessity made more acute after Washington’s refusal to rule out military action against the North.
Like South Korea, Japan already faces a direct threat from the secretive regime.
Last month, the North fired four ballistic missiles, three of which fell provocatively close to Japan, in what it said was a drill for an attack on US bases in the country.