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BBC - Tokyo hints at Military Shift (27-Mar-2003) Japan's defence minister has said Tokyo may consider adopting an offensive military capacity, going against its pacifist constitution. Shigeru Ishiba, who is known for his hawkish views, told the House of Representatives Committee on Security that it is "worth considering" offensive capability. He was speaking as final preparations were made for the launch on Friday of two information gathering satellites, which will be able to monitor its neighbour, North Korea. BBC - Japan's Binding ties with the U.S. (19-Mar-2003) Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has thrown his support behind the United States and Britain despite widespread opposition to war in Japan. Tens of thousands of people have been out on the streets of Tokyo to protest against war in Iraq, but in a televised news conference this week, Mr Koizumi repeatedly stressed the importance of maintaining the 50-year-old alliance with the United States. Tokyo's support for President Bush is not motivated by fear of Iraq, but by a much more immediate threat - the prospect of a nuclear armed North Korea. BBC - Japan threatens force against North Korea (14-Mar-2003) Japan has warned it would launch a pre-emptive military action against North Korea if it had firm evidence Pyongyang was planning a missile attack. Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba said it would be "a self-defence measure" if North Korea was going to "resort to arms against Japan".
BBC News Online charts the build-up of tension since North Korea's reported disclosure of a secret nuclear weapon programme. 3-5 October: On a visit to the North Korean capital Pyongyang, US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly presses the North on suspicions that it is continuing to pursue a nuclear energy and missiles programme. Mr Kelly says he has evidence of a secret uranium-enriching programme carried out in defiance of the 1994 Agreed Framework. Under this deal, North Korea agreed to forsake nuclear ambitions in return for the construction of two safer light water nuclear power reactors and oil shipments from the US. 16 October: The US announces that North Korea admitted in their talks to a secret nuclear arms programme. 17 October: Initially the North appears conciliatory. Leader Kim Jong-il says he will allow international weapons inspectors to check that nuclear facilities are out of use. 18 October: Five Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea 25 years before are allowed a brief visit home - but end up staying, provoking more tension in the region. 20 October: North-South Korea talks in Pyongyang are undermined by the North's nuclear programme "admission". US Secretary of State Colin Powell says further US aid to North Korea is now in doubt. The North adopts a mercurial stance, at one moment defiantly defending its "right" to weapons development and at the next offering to halt nuclear programmes in return for aid and the signing of a "non-aggression" pact with the US. It argues that the US has not kept to its side of the Agreed Framework, as the construction of the light water reactors - due to be completed in 2003 - is now years behind schedule. 14 November: US President George W Bush declares November oil shipments to the North will be the last if the North does not agree to put a halt to its weapons ambitions. 18 November: Confusion clouds a statement by North Korea in which it initially appears to acknowledge having nuclear weapons. A key Korean phrase understood to mean the North does have nuclear weapons could have been mistaken for the phrase "entitled to have", Seoul says. 27 November: The North accuses the US of deliberately misinterpreting its contested statement, twisting an assertion of its "right" to possess weapons into an "admission" of possession. 4 December: The North rejects a call to open its nuclear facilities to inspection. 11 December: North Korean-made Scud missiles are found aboard a ship bound for Yemen, provoking American outrage. The US detains the ship, but is later forced to allow the ship to go, conceding that neither country has broken any law. 12 December: The North threatens to reactivate nuclear facilities for energy generation, saying the Americans' decision to halt oil shipments leaves it with no choice. It blames the US for wrecking the 1994 pact. 13 December: North asks the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to remove seals and surveillance equipment - the IAEA's "eyes and ears" on the North's nuclear status - from its Yongbyon power plant. 22 December: The North begins removing monitoring devices from the Yongbyon plant. 24 December: North Korea begins repairs at the Yongbyon plant. North-South Korea talks over reopening road and rail border links, which have been struggling on despite the increased tension, finally stall. 25 December: It emerges that North Korea had begun shipping fuel rods to the Yongbyon plant which could be used to produce plutonium. 26 December: The IAEA expresses concern in the light of UN confirmation that 1,000 fuel rods have been moved to the Yongbyon reactor. 27 December: North Korea says it is expelling the two IAEA nuclear inspectors from the country. It also says it is planning to reopen a reprocessing plant, which could start producing weapons grade plutonium within months. 2 January: South Korea asks China to use its influence with North Korea to try to reduce tension over the nuclear issue, and two days later Russia offers to press Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme. 6 January: The IAEA passes a resolution demanding that North Korea readmit UN inspectors and abandon its secret nuclear weapons programme "within weeks", or face possible action by the UN Security Council. 7 January: The US says it is "willing to talk to North Korea about how it meets its obligations to the international community". But it "will not provide quid pro quos to North Korea to live up to its existing obligations". 9 January: North Korea agrees to hold cabinet-level talks with South Korea on 21 January. 10 January: North Korea announces it will withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 24 January: Cabinet-level talks between North and South Korea end without making progress. South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun proposes face-to-face meeting with Kim Jong-il. 28 January: In his annual State of the Union address, President Bush says North Korea is "an oppressive regime [whose] people live in fear and starvation". He accuses North Korea of deception over its nuclear ambitions and says "America and the world will not be blackmailed". 29 January: North Korea says Mr Bush's speech is an "undisguised declaration of aggression to topple the DPRK system" and dubs him a "shameless charlatan". At the same time, however, it reiterates its demand for bilateral talks on a non-aggression pact. 31 January: Unnamed American officials are quoted as saying that spy satellites have tracked movement at the Yongbyon plant throughout January, prompting fears that North Korea is trying to reprocess plutonium for nuclear bombs. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer delivers a stern warning that North Korea must not take "yet another provocative action... intended to intimidate and blackmail the international community". 4 February: The United States says it is considering new military deployments in the Pacific Ocean to back up its forces in South Korea, as a deterrent against any North Korean aggression, in the event that the US goes to war on Iraq. 5 February: North Korea says it has reactivated its nuclear facilities and their operations are now going ahead "on a normal footing". 6 February: North Korea warns the United States that any decision to build up its troops in the region could lead the North to make a pre-emptive attack on American forces. 12 February: The IAEA finds North Korea in breach of nuclear safeguards and refers the matter to the UN security council. 16 February: Kim Jong-il celebrates his 61st birthday, but state media warns North Korean citizens to be on "high alert". 17 February: The US and South Korea announce that they will hold joint military exercises in March. 24 February: North Korea fires a missile into the sea between South Korea and Japan. 25 February: Roh Moo-hyun sworn in as South Korean president. 2 March: Four North Korean fighter jets intercept a US reconnaissance plane in international air space and shadow it for 22 minutes. 10 March: North Korea fires a second missile into the sea between South Korea and Japan in as many weeks. 22 March: As a blistering bombing campaign pounds the Iraqi capital, and South Korean and US forces perform military exercises on its doorstep, a jumpy North denounces their "confrontational posture" and calls off talks with the South. 1 April: The US announces that "stealth" fighters sent to South Korea for a training exercise are to stay on once the exercises end. 7 April: Ministerial talks between North and South Korea are cancelled after Pyongyang fails to confirm they would take place. 9 April: The United Nations Security Council expresses concern about North Korea's nuclear programme, but fails to condemn Pyongyang for pulling out of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. 12 April: In a surprise move, North Korea signals it may be ready to end its insistence on direct talks with the US, announcing that "if the US is ready to make a bold switchover in its Korea policy for a settlement of the nuclear issue, [North Korea] will not stick to any particular dialogue format. 16 April: American and North Korean officials are to meet in Beijing to discuss North Korea's nuclear programme.
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