Another speech was made to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, September 24th:
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi took North Korea to task at the UN General Assembly, calling on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programme."The development and possession of nuclear weapons by North Korea must never be tolerated," Kawaguchi said in a speech to the annual gathering of world leaders in New York on Tuesday.
"Japan once again urges North Korea to immediately and completely dismantle all of its nuclear development programmes in a verifiable and irreversible manner," she said.
...In a wide-ranging address, Kawaguchi highlighted several regional issues by calling for the release of Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and pushing for the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia.
She also issued a strong call for reform of the UN Security Council and reiterated Japan's desire for a permanent seat on the body.
With words like those - especially if they reflect Tokyo's policy, as opposed to John-Bolton-style-tough-talk wiped off the chalkboard by Foggy Bottom the next day - the world needs Japan to take the place of any number of charlatans on the Security Council.
Japan is also considering loosening military restrictions set in place by the pacifist constitution we wrote for them. More Kawaguchi:
The government should pursue a more flexible interpretation of the Constitution's war-renouncing Article 9 and allow the Self-Defense Forces to make a greater contribution to global peacekeeping efforts, according to Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi. "I think we should continue to place importance on Article 9. But perhaps there are other ways to interpret it," Kawaguchi told journalists shortly after her reappointment Monday....Under a new antiterrorism law, SDF units have provided logistic support to the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan. Another new law has paved the way for troops to be sent to help in Iraq's postwar reconstruction.
Impressive. Japan's nonoffensive military is an anachronism, designed for a time when the return of militarists or imperialistic ambitions to the island was a real possibility. But those days are long gone; Japanese people themselves are rather tranquil and judicious about war and their representative government is all but bound to follow their wishes. It's time to grant Japan the full rights and responsibilities of an able democracy, and allow them to aid us in the war against terror and dictatorship.