TOKYO, 19 October 2006 — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reassured Japan yesterday that Washington would stand by a commitment to protect its Asian ally and tried to temper concerns of an Asian nuclear arms race after North Korea’s nuclear test.
“The United States has the will and the capability to meet the full range, and I underscore full range, of its deterrent and security commitments to Japan,” Rice told a news conference in Tokyo, the first stop on a tour of North Asia.
The United States is worried Japan and South Korea might embark on an arms buildup in response to North Korea developing a nuclear arsenal.
“That is why it is extremely important to go out and reaffirm, and reaffirm strongly, US defense commitments to Japan and to South Korea,” Rice told reporters traveling with her. Referring to an arms race, she said: “We have a lot of means to prevent that from happening.”
Germany also warned that North Korea’s underground test of a nuclear device on Oct. 9 and Iran’s refusal to rein in its nuclear program could spark regional arms races.
“Both of these provocations can awaken the desire for nuclear weapons among their neighbors. We must prevent this, which is why we’re not at the end of this conflict but at the beginning,” Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the German weekly magazine Stern. Rice will head from Japan to Seoul and Beijing, seeking a unified stance on UN sanctions slapped on Pyongyang last Saturday for exploding a nuclear device. She made her trip as intelligence experts said satellites had spotted a pick-up in activity at the North’s suspected test site, suggesting a second blast may be imminent.
Japan, a traditional target of Pyongyang’s animosity, has seen debate increase over whether to acquire nuclear arms. But Foreign Minister Taro Aso reiterated Tokyo had “absolutely no intentions now of preparing to possess nuclear weapons.” “There is no need to have nuclear weapons as the Japan-US security framework will be activated for the defense of Japan,” he said. “And Secretary Rice has just reconfirmed that.” Japan, the only country to have suffered from the effects of nuclear bombing, has long forsworn nuclear weapons. Assistant US Secretary of State Christopher Hill stressed the risk North Korea would run if it attacked a US ally.
“I think North Korea needs to understand that when it attacks treaty allies of the United States it indeed risks very much being at war with the United States,” he said in an interview with National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. Pyongyang appeared unperturbed by the flurry of diplomatic activity, widespread outrage and UN sanctions.
