‘Japan, S. Korea may go nuclear over Korean Peninsula tensions’
The increase in tensions on the Korean Peninsula could lead to the militarization of Japan and South Korea up to the point where they decide to develop or obtain their own nuclear weapons, former Pentagon official Michael Maloof told RT.
RT: North Korea has expanded its aggressive rhetoric -
putting Tokyo on its virtual hit list in this war of words. Do you
think Japan could have acted differently under the
circumstances?
Michael Maloof: Japan, like the others, like S. Korea and
the United States should be keeping a very low profile, keep their
powder dry but not make any provocations and I think as long as
there are provocations under way such as those continued US-South
Korean military exercises, this crisis is going to continue, if not
explode due to some miscalculation.
RT:But what is the North Korean problem with Japan in
the nutshell?
MA: North Korea has a long standing relation with Japan.
Japan occupied Korea during WWII but it’s also a Chosen Soren, as
it is called in Japan and it receives lots of its technology and
foreign currency from Japan but it is also a base for a lot of US
facilities and Japan has threatened to shoot down any missiles that
might go over it from N. Korea. But primarily it is because the
United States has bases there and they see the US as the primary
threat.
RT:Could the escalating tension on the Korean peninsula
push Japan towards militarization - perhaps even develop nuclear
weapons?
MA: That is the extreme fear. It is not being mentioned
publically but not only Japan but South Korea. You have a new
government in Japan and they have been talking about militarizing.
That will really upset the power in that entire region, if either
one or both of those countries decide to go ahead and militarize to
the point of going to nuclear weapons. Both countries have the
industrial capability. They can probably have nuclear weapons
within six month if they made that decision.
But I think in Japan, you had some parliamentarians and some
influential politicians in Japan openly calling for this now and
they’re all members of the ruling party. It is really something to
watch and that is just going to create an even greater provocation
and it’s also something that will be really unsettling to other
countries in the region, particularly China. This could be another
arms build-up that can easily get out of control.
RT:During his visit in South Korea, Secretary of State
John Kerry tried to damp down anxiety caused by a Pentagon report
that was mistakenly made public - it claimed Pyongyang had the
technology in place to launch a nuclear attack. Do you think that
is the case?
MA: I think it is possible. I’ve been watching it for some
time and I think the fact that they had a test in February, it was
for miniaturization, N. Koreans admitted that. And then right after
is when N. Korea began to extend threats of pre-emptive nuclear
strikes against the United States. That told me in effect that they
had some success in miniaturization that is to fit a nuclear weapon
on to a missile. That would extend the range.
In the December missile shot, they were able to successfully test
that missile but also they were able to launch a satellite and put
it into orbit. That satellite could become a nuclear warhead in the
future. It extends the range considerably, it could cover the
entire US and the N. Koreans can actually conduct a high altitude
explosive and actually create what we would call an electromagnetic
affect, pulse affect that would cripple the US grid system, which
is very vulnerable.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.