JAPAN: Japanese navy gears up for annual fleet review amid security threat from North Korea

Record ID: 465052

  • Title: JAPAN: Japanese navy gears up for annual fleet review amid security threat from North Korea
  • Date: 22nd October 2006
  • Summary: VISITORS ON DECK PEOPLE TAKING PHOTOS
  • Embargoed: 6th November 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAD35SJB1H0435FME1TYWEM4YLV
  • Story Text: Japan's navy on Sunday (October 22) started live ammunition exercises in the Paciftc Ocean for its annual fleet review at a time when concerns mount over Japan's defence capability against possible aggression from North Korea.
    About 50 naval ships - including destroyers and missile boats - cruised in formation, some firing anti-submarine rockets and other guns, The exercise, also joined by fighter jets, was in preparation for an annual review of the naval fleet by the nation's prime minister.
    The military drill is getting increased public attention this year in the the wake of North Korea's recent nuclear test.
    "Regarding North Korean situation, we are to simply follow decisions made by our government. All I can say is our troops are always ready to deal with any situation," said Lt. Cmd. Kazuhisa Imuta, a spokesman for the Japan Maritime self-defence Force, or Japan's defacto navy.
    Some Japanese citizens who watched the drill from aboard a ship said given the current situation in North Korea, the possibility of Japan getting involved in a military conflict in the near future seems higher than ever.
    "I think about threat from North Korea and wonder if Japan is really capable of fighting a war with what we have. But we should not have a war in the first place," Takeyuki Minami, 54, a business owner.
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