Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Thursday denounced the sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul has blamed on North Korea but did not elaborate on how Japan might respond to the incident.Wow. When the Japanese left is on Pyongyang's case, you know it's bad. Of course, it's good politics for PM Hatoyama to make nice with both Washington and Seoul, so a tough stance isn't all that surprising.
"Our country strongly supports South Korea," Hatoyama said in a written statement. "North Korea's action is inexcusable and, along with the international community, we strongly condemn it."
The statement followed a report by the South Korean military and private-sector experts that concluded North Korean forces had used a torpedo to sink the corvette Cheonan, killing 46 sailors.
Praising the report as "scientific and objective," Hatoyama said Japan would cooperate with South Korea, the United States and other parties involved "for the peace and security of the region."
And if South Korea decides that the best way to respond to North Korea's hostile act is to get all sanctions-enforcing on their asses, then it's nice to have Japan on board with ships that might go in and out of the Korea Strait (going past Tsushima or Kyūshū) or Sōya Strait (aka La Pérouse Strait, going past Hokkaidō).
From my perspective, it's good to have Seoul and Tōkyō working together on matters of national and regional security.
I agree. I think it's great that Japan is supporting South Korea on this, and I hope that the South Koreans who hate Japan recognize this as well.
ReplyDeleteMost South Koreans aren't as knee-jerk anti-Japanese as some of the more vocal members of society might lead one to believe. (If they were, could a Japan-born president have been elected? Perhaps not.)
ReplyDeleteIn general, KoKos are more trusting of Hatoyama than, say, the right-wing Koizumi. Or rather, they're more distrusting of Koizumi.
if north korea did it. she would announced it proudly from past act.
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily. If the goal is to get a military reaction out of South Korea in order distract the disgruntled North Korean population with an attack on the DPRK, they wouldn't need to (or even want to) announce it. From kidnappings of South Koreans and Japanese to things like this, the modus operandi is to not announce it and instead to deny, deny, deny.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it seems you are suggesting someone else did it. Who and why?
http://www.japundit.com/Offtopic/US_role_in_Cheonan_sinking
ReplyDeletecolombia sunk and still did not came back yet
http://www.japundit.com/Offtopic/US_role_in_Cheonan_sinking
ReplyDeleteor it is a classic strategy by US
it is also goof for Futenma issue
Those are conspiracy theories where the evidence simply does not hold up to scrutiny.
ReplyDelete