Biden: US Committed to Defense of Japan

Says North Korea Must Abandon All Missiles

Speaking with Japan’s Deputy premier Taro Aso, Vice President Joe Biden pledged an unshakeable US military commitment to defend Japan from the non-existent “threat” posed by North Korea, including extended America’s nuclear umbrella to the nation.

Last week North Korea threatened to retaliate militarily against Japan if the nation followed through on its threats to shoot down any missile test launches, though since no tests were actually done the whole situation never really came up.

Japan’s hawkish ruling party has sought to hype the “threat” as an argument for scrapping a constitutional ban on starting wars, and claims a “right” to launch a first strike on North Korea at any time.

A White House statement on the talks revealed that the two leaders agreed that North Korea not only needs to ditch its entire nuclear program, but also has to scrap all of its ballistic missiles.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.