Japan Steps Up North Korea Monitoring
Japan's top government spokesman said Friday that Tokyo is stepping up monitoring of North Korea amid speculation that the communist nation could carry out a nuclear test as early as this weekend.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said: "In consideration of various possibilities, we are preparing for whatever may happen."
North Korea threatened Tuesday to conduct a nuclear test to prove it is a nuclear power, although it gave no date for any test.
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi, currently in Washington, said Japan and the United States shared concerns that the North may conduct a test this weekend and that the two sides need to be prepared, Kyodo News agency reported.
The assessment was made during Yachi's talks with White House Deputy National Security Adviser Jack Crouch and U.S. Defense Undersecretary for Policy Eric Edelman, Kyodo said.
Shiozaki declined to confirm the reports but said Japan is capable of detecting radiation in case of a test and is making sure its equipment is functioning properly. He did not disclose details of Japan's preparedness.
Japan has two intelligence-gathering satellites and launched a third in September that can monitor North's nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Defense Agency officials also said Japan had boosted its intelligence gathering efforts.
On Thursday, a U.S. military plane capable of detecting radiation took off from Okinawa in southern Japan, thought to be a monitoring exercise in case North Korea carries out a test, according to media reports. U.S. military officials in Japan refused to confirm the report.
The North's declared intention to conduct a nuclear test has sent shock waves through the three Asian countries most concerned: South Korea, Japan and China, and each for different reasons according to CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen in Tokyo.
In Japan, newly-installed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, "we simply could not accept" a North Korean nuclear test.
And yet, Petersen reports, the threat itself plays into the policies of Abe and the increasing voices in Japan arguing for an end to the country's pacifist constitution.
Abe, the first Japanese prime minister born after World War II, has talked of his country needing a military capable of attacking North Korea if a missile aimed at Japan were to be detected.
The notion runs counter to the American-dictated, post-war constitution that renounced force and allowed a Japanese military for self-defense only.
Abe's sentiments are resonating among his fellow members of the Japanese parliament, and find a surprising amount of sympathy with Japan's populace, according to Petersen.