The Marmot’s Hole

And more importantly, don’t be a wimp unilaterally. That’s the between-the-lines message Japan Defense Agency Director Shigeru Ishiba had for Rummy, and Parapundit’s post on this suggests that the Japanese are concerned that any future deal between the US and North Korea may worsen Tokyo’s security concerns. Ishiba’s a bit of a loose cannon (Japan seems to be producing a few of them lately, which is OK by me for now), and looking at what he said during his press conference with the Defense Secretary, I’m not even sure if such concerns were even implied. Still, the North Koreans have actively sought to cut the Japanese out of the loop (and taken every opportunity to heep abuse upon them), and you know Tokyo isn’t betting on either the South Koreans or the Chinese to take Japan’s security concerns and vital interests into account. It’s not a stretch to infer, therefore, that Japanese leaders may be more than slightly concerned about a US-DPRK deal that leaves them in an even crappier position to deal with their neighbors than they already are.