The Japanese parliament’s upper house yesterday adopted a resolution to protest North Korea’s plan to launch a rocket as early as the weekend, calling it a threat to peace in northeast Asia.
The resolution against the launch scheduled for between Saturday and Wednesday was approved unanimously and expected to be passed by the lower house in the afternoon.
Pyongyang has said it will launch a communications satellite over northern parts of Japan, while the US and its Asian allies suspect the launch is a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test.
Launching the rocket “would threaten the peace of not only Japan but also the region of northeast Asia,” the resolution said.
Diet legislators in the resolution said they “sternly protest” against the planned launch and “strongly urge North Korea to refrain from launching” the rocket.
North Korea has warned that the rocket’s first booster would likely plunge into the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, off Japan’s northern Akita Prefecture, while the second stage would drop into the Pacific between Japan and Hawaii.
Japan has deployed land and sea-based anti-missile systems to try to bring down the rocket should it start falling toward Japanese territory. The North has said it would regard a rocket intercept as an act of war.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told parliament yesterday that Japan “will appeal to the UN Security Council if North Korea goes ahead with the launch.”
Meanwhile, one Seoul-based analyst said intelligence reports indicated North Korea appeared to have built nuclear warheads for its mid-range Rodong missiles, which can reach Japan.
“I have some intelligence assessments that indicate they have assembled nuclear warheads for Rodong missiles,” said Daniel Pinkston, an analyst with the nongovernmental International Crisis Group. “No one can know this with 100 percent accuracy.”
Many proliferation experts believe the North, whose only nuclear test in 2006 was seen as a partial success, does not have the advanced nuclear technology to miniaturize a nuclear device for a warhead.
It might be able to place biological agents on a missile or make a dirty bomb, where radiation is spread through conventional explosives.
North Korea’s planned missile launch is certain to feature on the sidelines of the G20 summit this week in London, where US President Barack Obama will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Analysts say the North may not be worried about incurring more sanctions from the launch, which it could see as a way of gaining greater leverage in negotiations with the outside world, which is trying to make it give up attempts to build a nuclear arsenal.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest