• Wednesday, January 19, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Defusing the North Korean crisis can be achieved with a bolder military alliance, say Japan, South Korea and the United States. But peace proponents beg to differ, arguing that inclusion and engagement with the Stalinist state and its ally China is the only way to build trust and lay the foundation for stability at long last in East Asia.

Peace activists interviewed by IPS express alarm at the latest moves in the region - flexing of military muscle through the joint exercises in the Yellow Sea by South Korea and the United States last month in retaliation against a North Korean attack.

They also express misgivings over a move by Japan to build a bilateral security arrangement with South Korea though cooperation between armed forces on both sides. Japan’s new military preparedness, warn advocators of an alternative approach, will create more uneasiness in East Asia. Historical wounds remain hurdles to East Asian stability. In 1950 the Korean peninsula was engulfed in a bitter war, between South Korea and the U.S. against North Korea supported by China.

Hiromichi Umebayashi who heads Peace Depot, a research organisation on alternative peace making, says he is against the latest sabre-rattling in Japan, which is mired in pressing economic, political and social issues. He points to Japan’s aging population and the fiscal deficit. 'The prospect of a higher defence budget in the future to shore up new military activities means cuts in public spending on social welfare. This is not the way.'

Japan has increased welfare spending 12 billion dollars annually to cope with the growing elderly. Analysts also refer to Tokyo’s stumbling relations with Okinawa, Japan most southern island that hosts two-thirds of U.S. military bases in the country and is thus viewed as a pillar of East Asian security.

Okinawans are angry with Tokyo and demand the relocation of key U.S. marine bases. Their heated protests have become a diplomatic crisis between Japan and the United States. Peace Depot and other such groups call on Tokyo to pay heed to China, the key player influencing North Korea. Beijing is pushing engagement, in contrast to Western allies.

China frustrated Western allies in December when it opposed a move in the United Nations Security Council to slap North Korea for shelling the Daeyeon- pyeongdo island of South Korea Nov. 23.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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