Editorial Board
Should Japan Rearm? Discuss.
Prime Minister Abe needs to lead a debate about how respond to the missile threat.
Cause for worry — and debate.
Photographer: Kazuhiro Nogi/Getty ImagesOutraged by Tuesday’s North Korean missile test, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe immediately called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Japan needs to have an equally urgent debate at home.
The missile, which buzzed the island of Hokkaido before crashing into the sea, was especially provocative because North Korea had previously only sent satellite-launching rockets over Japan. Judging by past experience, success will embolden the North to conduct similar tests, raising the possibility that a missile could go awry or disintegrate over a Japanese city. Japan and the U.S. would have to decide whether to shoot them down, increasing the risk of wider hostilities.