Peace and Justice for Guam and the Pacific: May 2017

Friday, May 05, 2017

USA WARSHIP IN WEST PACIFIC FOR JAPAN NAVY DRILLS

China’s Xi Jinping called for restraint during an overnight call about North Korea with President Donald Trump, which came as Japan conducted joint drills with a US aircraft carrier strike group headed for the region. The vessels of the two countries began joint exercises Sunday in the Western Pacific. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier was rerouted toward North Korea earlier this month, after initial confusion over its strike group’s deployment – including a statement by President Trump that he was sending “an armada” to the Korean Peninsula. JS Samidare and JS Ashigara, two destroyers, joined the exercise with the USA carrier group.

The U.S. Navy says the joint exercises are routine, created to improve combined maritime response and defense capabilities, as well as joint maneuvering proficiency.

South Korea says key parts of a contentious US missile defense system have been installed a day after rival North Korea showed off its military power.

Editorial: We’ll exercise our right to self-determination

April 28, 2017 by Ryukyu Shimpo

The San Francisco Peace Treaty took effect on April 28, 1952, when Japan gained its independence, and when Okinawa, along with Amami and Ogasawara, were split from Japan.

In Article 3 of the Peace Treaty, the United States, with Japan’s consent and without intervention from any other country, gave themselves the ability to have free use of military bases. The U.S., ignoring the basic human rights of Okinawan citizens came with “bayonets and bulldozers,” taking away farmland and building the largest military bases in all of East Asia. Without a doubt, for Okinawa this is a, “Day of Shame.”

Okinawa recognizes April 28 as the, “Day of Humiliation,” demanding the restoration of their right to self-determination.

3,000 take part in protest rally in Henoko for first time since start of sea wall construction, refusing to bow to government pressure

April 30, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

On the morning of April 29, in front of the gate of Camp Schwab in Henoko, Nago City, a mass rally was held to block construction of new U.S. base. At the rally, participants called for the repeal of the so-called “anti-conspiracy bill” and urged people not to forget the “4.28 Day of Humiliation”.

It became the first large-scale gathering after the Okinawa Defense Bureau began sea wall construction to reclaim sea off the coast of Camp Schwab on April 25.

An executive committee consisting of the Okinawa Peace Movement Center and the prefectural assembly’s ruling parties organized the rally.
　
According to the organizer, about 3,000 people took part in the rally. The participants raised their voices in protest against construction carried out forcefully by the central government and called for the construction of the new U.S. base in Henoko to be blocked. The new base is part of a project to relocate the U.S. Futenma airfield in Ginowan.

One year after the rape and murder of a woman by a U.S. military contractor, wounds of the victim’s family have yet to heal

April 28, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

We interviewed attorney Naoko Murakami, who represents the family of the deceased in the case of rape and murder of a woman by a U.S. military contractor, which occurred one year ago.

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　― How are the family doing now?

“From the perspective of the family, no progress has been made at all. Pretrial arrangement procedures have begun, but there is still no knowing when the trial will start or when a verdict will be made. The case remains unsolved and there has been no compensation. The family feels great loss and their wounds are not healed. They have suffered tremendous psychological damage, making it hard to work, so their income has taken a hit.”

　― The defendant has made comments that were hurtful to the family.

U.S. strategic B-1B bombers conduct joint military drills near North Korea and Pyongyang warns of nuclear war

Two U.S. strategic bombers penetrated the airspace over the Korean Peninsula on Monday to conduct joint drills with the air forces of Japan and South Korea, according to media reports.

A pair of supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers departed from the Andersen Air Force base in Guam. The military drills near North Korea were long-planned, but kept quiet by U.S. officials to avoid increasing political tensions in the region, CNN reported.

“These flights demonstrate the solidarity between South Korea, the United States, and Japan to defend against North Korea’s provocative and destabilizing actions,” Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, told Reuters.

The drills over the Korean Peninsula did not go unnoticed by Pyongyang. The North Korean government called the military training “an impressive act of military provocation again” on its state-run news network, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), according to Korea Times.

Pacific News Minute: FMR Japanese Defense Minister Calls To Upgrade Military Capabilities

According to Reuters, the U.S. Military’s controversial anti-missile system has reached initial operating capacity in South Korea. The news agency quotes U.S. officials as cautioning that it will still be months before THAAD is fully operational – the acronym stands for Theater High Altitude Area Defense. And, as we hear from Neal Conan in today’s Pacific News Minute, there is growing sentiment to install the system in Japan.

Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada toured the THAAD Battery on Guam in January, before this most recent crisis with North Korea and some of her predecessors say that Japan needs to upgrade both defensive and offensive capabilities. At a news conference in Tokyo last week, Former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera noted that it would take just ten minutes for a North Korean Missile to reach Japan. North Korea recently launched four at the same time, in what it said was a test of its ability to attack Japan. Onodera said it would be hours before American bombers based in Japan and Guam could respond, and that Japan needed the capability to counter strike quickly on its own.

US Navy warships team up with South Koreans in Pacific steaming towards confrontation with Kim Jong-un

This is the moment US Navy warships teamed up with their South Korean counterparts in the Pacific to steam towards a confrontation with Kim Jong-un.

This video footage was released tonight just hours after North Korea vowed to put US military bases in Japan "under radioactive clouds" if war breaks out.

South Korea revealed last month that it was in talks with Washington about holding joint drills with the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group as it approaches waters off the Korean peninsula.

There have been growing fears that maniac leader Kim Jong-un could conduct another nuclear test in the region 'any day'.

Fighter Jets Fly Over US and South Korean Ships in Western Pacific

Storyful4 May 2017

North Korea’s state media condemned a US military exercise in the Western Pacific Ocean involving F/A-18 Hornet combat jets taking off from a US aircraft carrier on May 3.

This US Navy video shows the fighter jets flying over American and South Korean ships in the Sea of Japan.

The USS Carl Vinson arrived in the region on April 28 and held joint drills with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. A US missile defense system, THAAD, also became operational in South Korea following missile launches in North Korea.

Military sexual assaults down as reports reach record high

Sexual assault in the U.S. military has fallen, according to a Pentagon report released on Monday, even though the number of incidents reported by service members hit a record high in 2016.

Service members reported 6,172 cases of sexual assault compared with 6,082 last year, the U.S. Department of Defense said in the annual report. This was a sharp jump from 2012 when 3,604 cases were reported.

An anonymous survey found that 14,900 service members experienced some kind of sexual assault in 2016, from groping to rape, down from 20,300 in 2014, the report showed. The survey portion is conducted every two years.

US military investigations reveal 45 civilians died in coalition strikes

The Pentagon said Sunday that the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria killed 45 civilians in airstrikes between November and early March of this year.

The new findings resulted from investigations into nine airstrikes that were part of the broader campaign against the Islamic State. The figures did not include results from an ongoing investigation into a March 17 attack in Mosul that local residents said killed scores of innocent people.

The Pentagon also said that a review of airstrikes dating back to August 2014 found that the U.S. military and its coalition partners were responsible for an additional 80 civilian deaths that had not been announced.

Speaker warns of budget shortfall

The historic war claims act introduced by Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo as part of last year's defense spending bill will lead to an executive budget shortfall and complicate efforts by Gov. Eddie Calvo to pay off tax refunds sooner, according to Speaker Benjamin Cruz.

The Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act, tucked into the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, sets the framework for administering reparations for the island's World War II survivors and heirs of the victims who were killed. The law identifies Section 30 funding that's in excess of 2014 levels, as a source of war reparations payments.

Section 30 money – essentially federal income tax payments from military personnel stationed in Guam, immigration fees and miscellaneous duties – is already used as a regular funding source for GovGuam obligations, such as tax refunds and other debt.

Rory J. Respicio

May 3, 2017 Updated May 3, 2017

The traditional 100-day mark by which new presidents are judged was reached last weekend. It is Donald Trump's turn to be judged by his record rather than just his tweets. For Trump, it has largely been 100 days of chaos and failures, and for Guam these have been 100 days of unfulfilled campaign promises, frustration and ominous signs for the future of our island and our region.

Analysis - Is Japan moving to revise its pacifist constitution?

Japan's explicitly pacifist constitution turns 70 on Wednesday. Ahead of the big birthday, a mail-in survey was conducted as to whether the Japanese population wants the constitution revised – and it seems about half the country does.

The Japanese population slightly favors a revision to Article 9, the section of the constitution that renounces war. Some 49 percent of respondents believe Article 9 must be changed, while 47 percent say it shouldn't be touched. But most do not want it changed now, with 51 percent saying they are against constitutional amendments under Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who then called for his country to make a historic revision to the document on Monday.

Arrival of US bombers known through N. Korea

By Yi Whan-woo

North Korean state media said Tuesday two U.S. B-1B Lancer strategic bombers conducted a nuclear bombing drill in South Korea, Monday.

The South Korean military confirmed the arrival of the U.S. planes hours after the North Korean report, adding to concerns over a possible preemptive strike by Washington against Pyongyang and the possible outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula.

According to Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the B-1B bombers performed a drill for a nuclear attack after departing from the U.S. military base in Guam.

Japan sends biggest warship to the Pacific as North Korea bolsters nuclear force 'to the maximum'

Japan has dispatched its biggest warship to protect a US military vessel in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in modern history following the enactment of a controversial new security law.

The Izumo, Japan's biggest warship since World War Two, left Yokosuka port in Kanagawa prefecture on Monday with the reported task of protecting a US supply ship within Japanese waters.

The Real Significance of the US Carrier Group Fiasco

A public diplomacy nightmare obscures the significance of the incident and what it says about U.S. commitment to the region.

By Jeff M. Smith

May 02, 2017

The USS Carl Vinson, one of ten American 100,000-ton nuclear-powered supercarriers, was a regular feature of international headlines last month—and for all the wrong reasons. It was the source of an embarrassing, if overhyped, mishap when the Donald J. Trump administration announced on April 8 the carrier was being ordered to the Korean peninsula amid a bout of escalating tensions with Pyongyang. You can imagine the uproar when the Carl Vinson was spotted sailing away from the Korean Peninsula more than a week later.

US looks at sanctions, military action to counter North Korea

The U.S. is considering a range of options, from expanded economic sanctions to military operations, as it reaches out to allies in confronting North Korea's latest provocations, according to a senior Trump administration official.

North Korea's ballistic missile test early Saturday was in "open defiance" of the international community, and the risk to the U.S. will not be tolerated, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Sunday. "We do have to do something" with partners in the region and globally "that involves enforcement of the UN sanctions that are in place," McMaster said on the "Fox News Sunday" program. "It may mean ratcheting up those sanctions even further. And it also means being prepared for military operations, if necessary."

North Korea's latest missile test came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson mounted an effort at the United Nations on Friday to rally pressure against Kim Jong Un's regime. Trump has stepped up pressure to prevent Kim from obtaining the capability to hit North America with a nuclear weapon, and he's threatened to act unilaterally if China fails to do more to curb its neighbor's activities.

100s march in Tokyo against US military presence, mark Okinawa murder

Hundreds of Japanese protesters have staged a rally in Tokyo against the US military presence in their country, as they mark the first anniversary of the murder of a local woman by a US Marine.

Protesters marched on the streets of the Japanese capital on Saturday, calling for the removal of US military bases from the island prefecture of Okinawa.
The demonstration also marked the murder of Rina Shimabukuro by a US Marine in Okinawa in April 2016, when the 20-year-old victim, who worked at the base, was raped, struck in the head, and stabbed on her way back home.
US Marine Kenneth Franklin Gadson, 32, later admitted to the murder. The case triggered mass protests across Japan.

TILLERSON URGES TO CONFRONT N. KOREA OR FACE ‘CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES’

“US Pacific Command detected what we assess was a North Korean missile launch at 10:33 am Hawaii time”.

Amid the increased tensions, two Japanese destroyers began a joint drill Sunday with a group of US warships, including the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, in the Western Pacific Ocean.

The North test-fired the same missile earlier this month in a launch that USA officials said also was a failure.

Trump tells Reuters he will either renegotiate or terminate what he calls a “horrible” free trade deal with South Korea and says Seoul should pay for a USA anti-missile system he prices at $1 billion.

North Korea missile fears in Japan: 'Whatever will be, will be'

By MARI YAMAGUCHI | Associated Press | Published: May 1, 2017

FUSSA, Japan — Residents living near U.S. military bases in Japan are facing a fresh reality: Their neighborhoods are on the frontline of North Korea's dispute with America and if Pyongyang were to attack they would have just minutes to shelter from incoming missiles.

"It's impossible. There is no way we can run away from it," said Seijiro Kurosawa, a 58-year-old taxi driver in Fussa, near Yokota Air Base. "We don't have bunkers, shelters or anything like that."

His company recently instructed drivers to park their cabs and take immediate refuge in the event of an attack, but he isn't sure where he could go. "All we can do is run into a department store perhaps," he said.

Following the launch of the Chinese Type 001 aircraft carrier, the question arises whether it marks the shift in the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region. Although in the near future the US and China are likely to maintain the established status quo in the region, in the long run the situation may change, observers assume.

Beijing's launch of the Type 001A aircraft carrier from the Dalian shipyard of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. has become a national event. Meanwhile, observers wonder whether or not the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is going to shift the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The Chinese fleet is the second to that of the US, in some respects, it is comparable to the Japanese one and surpasses all other fleets [in the region]," Andrei Frolov, Russian military expert and editor-in-chief of Arms Export, told Russian online newspaper Vzglyad.

He believes that the Chinese fleet surpasses even the Russian Pacific Fleet, "maybe with the exception of the submarine component."