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As North Korea missile threat grows, Japan lawmakers argue for first strike options

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....an argument that aiming for the archer rather than his arrows is a more effective defense.

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AKA Torsa! Tora! Tora! II. Maybe the Japanese should mail the CD of the movie to KJ iL, just to get him thinking about the consequences, ironically, of 'arousing a sleeping giant and filling him with a fearsome resolve'?

LOL!

Source: Reuters

Rattled by North Korean military advances, influential Japanese lawmakers are pushing harder for Japan to develop the ability to strike preemptively at the missile facilities of its nuclear-armed neighbor.

Japan has so far avoided taking the controversial and costly step of acquiring bombers or weapons such as cruise missiles with enough range to strike other countries, relying instead on its U.S. ally to take the fight to its enemies.

But the growing threat posed by Pyongyang, including Monday's simultaneous launch of four rockets, is adding weight to an argument that aiming for the archer rather than his arrows is a more effective defense.

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But while previous administrations shied away from acquiring the hardware to do so, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's LDP has been urging him to consider the step.

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Any weapon Japan acquired with the reach to hit North Korea would also put parts of China's eastern seaboard within range of Japanese munitions for the first time. That would likely anger Beijing, which is strongly protesting the deployment of the advanced U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141723872

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