Japan’s Abe urges stronger defense amid NK worries

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan’s prime minister on Monday called for a boost to the country’s defenses in the face of North Korean threats, warning that Tokyo needs to be able to protect itself. The call is a common refrain from nationalist leader Shinzo Abe, who has long advocated a stiffening of Japan’s military posture, despite its officially pacifist constitution.

In a speech to senior officers of the Self-Defense Forces — Japan’s name for the military — Abe said: “No one else will protect you if you don’t have the mindset of protecting yourself.”

“We have to take all appropriate measures against (incidents such as) North Korea’s missile launch over Japan,” added the premier, who said he had asked his defense minister to draw up a blueprint for Japan’s medium-term defense strategy.

Abe, who moved quickly after the election of Donald Trump to keep the mercurial U.S. president close, said that “strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance is vital” to ensure regional stability.

“We have to deter North Korea’s repeated provocative acts,” he said, noting recent joint drills with the United States in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) and defense cooperation with like-minded countries including Australia.

Abe’s comments come as the U.S. pushes for the United Nations Security Council to vote on harsher sanctions on North Korea.

Diplomats said that a new draft resolution circulated recently is slightly less tough than the original but includes a “progressive” oil embargo on Pyongyang.

Speaking at the same meeting, Japan’s Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said he hoped to quickly introduce Aegis Ashore, a land-based version of the maritime Aegis missile-defense system.

Germany open to Iran-style N. Korea talks: Merkel

FRANKFURT AM MAIN (AFP) — Germany would lend its weight to a diplomatic push to end North Korean nuclear weapons and missile development along the lines of a past deal with Iran, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday.

“I would say yes immediately if we were asked to join talks,” Merkel told weekly newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

Talks between Iran and six world powers, sealed with a 2015 deal for Tehran to roll back its nuclear program and submit to inspections in exchange for some sanctions being rolled back, were “a long but important period of diplomacy” that had achieved a “good end,” she added.

“I could imagine such a format for the settlement of the North Korea conflict. Europe and especially Germany ought to be ready to make a very active contribution,” Merkel said.

The chancellor said she had held telephone talks with the leaders of France, the United States, China, South Korea and Japan about the North Korea crisis over the past week, and is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday.

Global response required

— NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday that North Korea’s nuclear and missile program represented a “global threat and requires a global response.”

“The reckless behavior of North Korea is a global threat and requires a global response, and that of course also includes NATO,” Stoltenberg told “The Andrew Marr Show.”