The US-North Korea summit will be held on June 12, as scheduled. The negotiations between the two countries have been marked by twists and turns due to North Korea’s abusing the US several times and the US President Trumps’ sudden cancellation of the summit. There has been no other way but accepting the summit to both countries, particularly to North Korea. It is noted that in the course of negotiations, President Trump’s pressure on North Korea was so strong that North Korea had disclosed its own real intention of seeking reconciliation with the US for the first time. Japan eagerly backed up President Trump’s policy, and North Korea moved toward denuclearization.
Some people say that China is a strong supporter of, and Russia is a close friend with North Korea, and that Japan is out of their loop. I do not necessarily deny what they say, but one thing I can say is that if we make haste, we will be obliged to bear burdens in the future, for example, having to accept compromise deals. We should rather wait until North Korea will ask us for help. However, we should persistently demand North Korea to release the Japanese abductees.
In addition, I have cautioned consistently that if the North Korean issue is settled after the US-North Korea summit is over, China’s arbitrary expansionism aiming at its global hegemony will accelerate, and East Asian countries will be exposed to China’s further threat. Under the circumstances, Japan will have to cope with such issues as China’s development of gas fields in the East China Sea, and Chinese warships’ intrusion into the contiguous zone around the Senkaku Islands. Furthermore, if the Korean War Armistice Agreement is converted into a treaty to terminate the Korean War, the US troops stationing in South Korea and Japan might lose justification of their existence. We should not forget that China is the real threat in East Asia.
I have been advocating an old saying, ‘Forget not war in time of peace, and forget not peace in time of war’.
