The following is from Rui Abiru that appeared in the Sankei Shimbun on August 5 under the title The Emerging Threat of Korean Missiles.
Rui Abiru is one of the best reporters working today.
It will be one year since the Yoshihide Suga administration was inaugurated next month. Still, the debate over possession of the enemy base attack capability that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has set out to improve Japan’s deterrence has not progressed at all.
It is not difficult to understand that the government has little time to spare in the wake of the Corona disaster. Still, stubborn resistance from the New Komeito Party, and the Liberal Democratic Party, which prioritizes electoral cooperation in the run-up to the lower house election, has not raised its voice.　
But can we afford to take our time?
When I spoke with a high-ranking government official involved in diplomacy and security the other day, he pointed out that the media had not reported the significance of the May summit meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.　
“Japan is the virtual enemy.”
A senior official took issue with the removal of guidelines that limited South Korea’s missile capabilities. Previously, it limited South Korea’s introduction of missiles to a range of 800 kilometers, but this has now become unlimited.　
The South Korean media reported that this would be effective for the U.S. to deter China.　　
A senior official said, “The U.S. did not inform Japan in advance about the elimination of the missile guidelines. Now South Korea can have missiles with a long-range that can cover all of Japan. It does not mean that Japan and South Korea will immediately go to war, but in terms of diplomacy, the country with the power will have the upper hand. Japan, on the other hand, has not even discussed an enemy base attack capability.　
In fact, Lee Jae-myung, governor of Gyeonggi Province and a leading candidate in South Korea’s presidential election next March, who is a member of the innovative ruling Democratic Party Together, welcomed the removal of the guidelines, saying, “The last chain of South Korea’s missile technology has been broken.　
Lee is a man who has called Japan a “military threat” and a “hostile nation.”
The official complained that Japanese politicians and the media have too little sense of crisis.　
And this attitude that Japan is the enemy is not unique to Mr. Lee.
At his first meeting with then U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former President Roh Moo-hyun, whom Moon served as secretary-general, asked for sympathy by saying, “Japan is our virtual enemy,” to the dismay of the U.S. side.
After that, the Roh administration continued to urge the United States to do the same.
Destabilizing Relations with the United States　
In July 2006, Mr. Roh also authorized a security boat of the South Korean Maritime Police Agency to fire a warning shot at a Coast Guard patrol boat in the waters near Takeshima (Oki Island, Shimane Prefecture), threatening to sink it.
It was a crisis of a flashpoint.
When I watched Tetsuya Tsukushi’s NES23 before I fell asleep, I had no idea what was going on at TBS. When such a man was inaugurated as president, he reported the news with men and women of all ages seated around him as if welcoming a hero. I am now feeling the regret and anger of being forced to watch the most foolish and despicable viciousness in this world*.
South Korea is not a country that can rest easy because it is an ally of the United States like Japan.　
To begin with, the U.S.-ROK alliance itself has become extremely unstable.
As reported in this column on December 3, 2020, Lawless, a former U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense specializing in East Asian security issues, has made the following prediction.　
“The U.S.-South Korean alliance will come to an end here by 2030.” “North and South Koreans will unite to take an even more overtly hardline stance against Japan if the U.S. withdraws from the security framework with South Korea.　
When it comes to preparing for emergencies, China and North Korea generally come to mind, but even South Korea could do anything at any time.
Even at the Tokyo Olympics, the anti-Japanese behavior of the South Korean athletes and the media, as if they were trying to undermine the Great East Japan Earthquake’s recovery, was unremarkable.　
The time when we can get by with the “ostrich peace” of sticking our heads in the sand and trying not to see the danger that is looming over us is long gone.
We should be aware of this fact.　
I hope that the ruling party, in particular, will take responsibility for the lives, property, and freedom of the people and conduct politics with its feet on the ground.
(Editorial Writer and Political Editor)