Political discord over Iraq weakens Japan's security

Takeshi Uemura, The Daily Yomiuri, Asia News Network, Tokyo

The U.S.-led military action against Iraq and the Japanese government's attitude toward the invasion have been highly contentious issues between the ruling coalition parties and the opposition. All the major opposition parties are opposed to the use of force to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein without a new UN resolution to mandate it, castigating Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for supporting the action taken by the United States and some of its allies.

The ruling and opposition camps have collided head-on over these issues. North Korea must be chuckling at such a state of affairs.

This is very similar to the situation earlier this month when Iraq gloated over the feud that divided the UN into two groups, one centering around the U.S. and Britain, and the other including France, Germany and Russia.

North Korea, which has engaged in diplomatic brinkmanship by availing itself of the menace of nuclear arms and missiles, is believed to possess, like Iraq, weapons of mass destruction.

Even worse, Pyongyang is strongly suspected to have acquired, unlike Iraq, at least one or two nuclear bombs.

No doubt that now is the time that this nation, on the strength of an alliance with the U.S. that serves as a key deterrent against foreign aggression, must unite firmly behind the cause of eliminating the North's weapons of mass destruction, which pose a grave threat to the nation's peace and security.

Nevertheless, the political parties are badly split into two camps over this crucial issue, with one side denouncing the U.S. action in Iraq and the Japanese government's stance toward the U.S.

From Pyongyang, this situation must be seen as proof of a rift in not only Japanese-U.S. relations, but also in Japan itself.

North Korea may believe that Japan, even though it is supposed to play an important role as part of international efforts to contain the reclusive state, has exposed its own weak point.

Many polls in the nation have shown a majority of respondents up to 80 percent in one survey -- are opposed to the use of force against Iraq.

The opposition must have calculated that their offensive against the government and the ruling coalition over the Iraq issue would help them make headway at the upcoming unified local elections. An official announcement will be made Thursday regarding the first half of the elections, including gubernatorial contests.

With budget deliberations in the Diet entering their final phase, the opposition is eager to make the Iraq problem the main issue.

The opposition are certain to try to confront the government and the ruling coalition over the issue by availing of such occasions as deliberations in the House of Councillors Budget Committee and Question Time sessions between Koizumi and opposition leaders.

Naoto Kan, president of Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto) and Hirohisa Fujii, secretary general of Liberal Party (Jiyuto), have both criticized the PM for his support of the U.S. action.

The Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party, for their part, have taken the position of opposing outright any attack on Iraq -- regardless of whether a new UN resolution is adopted.

Calling for UN weapons inspections to continue, both the JCP and the SDP have criticized the government for toadying to Washington.

To be sure, for the government, which has long pursued a policy of making the nation's U.S. alliance compatible with maintaining a consensus with the international community, the failure of the United Nations to adopt a new resolution is an unfortunate development.

Yet the need remains of addressing the challenge of dealing with a dangerous regime armed with weapons of mass destruction. The same also applies to North Korea.

In the event of Pyongyang escalating the situation, would countries such as China and Russia agree to a UN resolution that called for measures to be taken against such a move, or even a resolution that would sanction the use of force against North Korea?

It is questionable whether the United Nations would be able to act promptly to deal with a crisis in the Korean Peninsula.

Under the circumstances, Japan, for the purpose of preventing North Korea from taking extreme measures, cannot help but depend on the massive military might of the United States as an ally of this country to ensure the nation's peace and security.

There are some, however, who insist that the logic in favor of this country extending support for the U.S. action in Iraq cannot be justified on the ground that the United States, under the Japan-U.S. security treaty, is obliged to protect Japan in case of an attack by North Korea.

Yet an alliance between countries can only work when it is based on a sense of solidarity and mutual trust.

Without a sense of solidarity and mutual trust between the parties involved, no security pact can function as envisioned.

From the viewpoint of seriously considering means of ensuring national security, the rift between the coalition and the opposition over Iraq is extremely deplorable.