“We hope this sudden event does not have an adverse effect on the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference after a hastily called ministerial meeting on security.
“Prime Minister (Yoshihiko) Noda told members of the security meeting to strengthen information-gathering efforts, work closely and share information with relevant states including the United States, South Korea and China, and to prepare for any unexpected circumstances. The government hopes to take appropriate action as needed,” Fujimura added.
But he said the ministers at the security meeting had reached no conclusion on whether to raise the level of alert for Japan’s military.
“I ordered each division within the ministry to do their utmost in information-gathering and in staying vigilant and watchful,” a Defense Ministry spokesman quoted Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa as saying.
Fujimura said the matter might be raised in subsequent meetings. “At present, we have no confirmation on the successor but we’re closely watching. According to the North Korean announcement, they will accept people expressing condolences from December 20 to 27 and the funeral will be held on December 28 in Pyongyang,” he said.
“We need to watch risks related to the succession.”
Kim died of a heart attack on Saturday while on a train trip, state media reported on Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear program.
Japan’s ties with North Korea, with which it has no diplomatic relations, have long been fraught due to Pyongyang’s bitterness over Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula, Tokyo’s worries about North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, and Japanese anger over the abduction of its citizens by North Korean agents decades ago.
Talks to normalize ties between Tokyo and Pyongyang have been halted for years with the issue of the Japanese abductees, an emotional subject in Japan, a major obstacle.
The report of Kim’s death grabbed immediate headlines in Japan, where newspapers issued extra editions.
Some Tokyo residents said they were concerned about what will happen next inside the borders of their unpredictable neighbor.
“I am worried indeed. I am very interested in knowing how this will all turn out,” 73-year-old retiree Kosuke Yoshimasa told Reuters.
Another retiree, 68-year-old Michiko Matsuzaki, sounded a note of cautious optimism. “I hope this will lead North Korea to become more democratic,” she said.
Japan, like others in the region, will be watching to see what stance Pyongyang adopts toward the outside world following Kim Jong-il’s death and whether his youngest son, Kim Jong Un — seen as the leader-in-waiting — can consolidate his power.
“At present, when they are trying to firm up their internal regime, they are more likely to prioritise firming domestic stability, rather than trying to boost tension with the outside,” said Tadashi Kimiya, a Tokyo University professor who specializes in Korean affairs.
“If the government cannot exercise control there will be confusion and instability,” he added.
Kimiya said he did not expect any sudden flood of refugees from North Korea headed for Japan nor did he think Pyongyang’s military was likely to take aggressive military action.
Security was tight at the Tokyo headquarters of the General Association of Korean Residents of Japan, Pyongyang’s de facto diplomatic mission in Japan, where a North Korean flag flew at half-mast.
Japan has about 400,000 permanent residents who are ethnic Koreans backing either Seoul or Pyongyang, many of them descendants of those brought here as forced labor when the peninsula was a Japanese colony.
