[War] Japan: "Waxing Strategic"

[Ian Martell]

"Waxing Strategic"
Prime Minister Shunichi Sato
Japan
October 8 2006

“General,” Sato said as he picked up the phone with General Fukudome his 
chief military planner who was currently in London as part of the 
partnership with the UK. “You’ve been briefed on the North Korea situation?” 
he asked.

“By the BBC,” Fukudome said. “I am at the Embassy now but there’s been no 
official reports sent yet.”

Sato smiled. “Likely because there aren’t any at this point the NHK and BBC 
likely know as much as we do at this point.”

“I see,” Fukudome said. “Well then sir, what do you need to know?”

“Our options, militarily speaking.”

There was silence on the line for a moment.

“Sir, exactly how far do you want us to go on this matter?”

“I am not looking for a war if that is what you are asking General, I am 
looking for a way to salvage the KRF and keep Kim Jong-Il from consolidating 
his power. Which is the last thing we need right now.”

“And the nuke?” asked Fukudome.

“That’s beside the point now, a tantrum, this crackdown is the serious 
business, if the KRF dies so does our chance to topple Kim in the near 
future rather than living under the nuclear sword for another decade.”

“I understand. Then this is what I think should be done. The KRF is out 
numbered and outmatched by the KPA in a face to face fight, especially 
against armoured forces, however like Japan, Korea, especially the North, is 
a very mountainous country, where armoured units are not going to be so 
widely effective as on the flat ground, they need to fall back to the 
mountains and do hit and run strikes force the Kim Regime to send in its 
50,000 or so special forces troops to fight their own little Vietnam. They 
should also regionalize, pick one area and consolidate their forces in it 
presuming Mr. Prime Minister we plan to supply them, a costal area would be 
best.”

“Wouldn’t consolidating their forces make it easier to strike at them?” Sato 
asked.

“Yes and no,” replied Fukudome. “If the KRF remains small units and only 
masses for attacks and then fades away again and sows the region thoroughly 
with traps they will effectively have a fortress against ground forces, but 
the true problem comes from the air.”

“Bombing?”

“Helicopters actually,” Fukudome said. “Equipped with infrared equipment 
they can be quite effective in hunting down small parties as is part of our 
defence plan if the North infiltrates Japan with special forces units like 
they have the South.”

“How do they counter helicopters?”

“Stinger missiles or the equivalent.”

Sato nodded. “I see.”

“What are our prospects for international support for the KRF?”

“Right now, poor, the American news is more concerned with the state of the 
First Lady’s womb than the security situation in Asia. Idiots. Nothing from 
China, nothing from South Korea except that Roh said that he’s meeting with 
his ministers, which could produce something or it could be a stalling 
tactic on their part. Either way I’d expected more from them these are 
*Koreans* after all, and yet it seems the Japanese are the only ones to care 
about that.”

Fukudome made an amused noise. “Quite the change in the last fifty years.”

“Yes, indeed, for the meantime assume we’re alone.”

“This will make things difficult, we need at least one other nation’s 
support for this, either because they have a border with North Korea or 
planes that can’t be detected by the KPA’s air defences.”

“What was your thinking?”

“Well direct military intervention unless everyone else is on board is 
unfeasible, for two reasons, first, we lack the manpower ourselves, as well 
as the landing ship capacity to do more than make a vain attempt to storm 
their country and then be slaughtered, second even if we could, if say less 
than all of the players go at once, the KPA has only to attack the nation or 
nation’s left out to drive a wedge between a future alliance. Korea 
especially, they’ve zeroed their artillery for Seoul years ago, one word 
from Kim and the news around the world will show Seoul looking like southern 
Lebanon. The South Korean left will agitate for negotiation and since 
they’ve gained strength over the last few years it will be politically 
difficult for Roh to resist.”

“And Roh’s not a courageous man,” Sato said.

“Exactly.”

“Well if we did have everyone’s approval, say China’s on board with Hong’s 
‘stabilization’ force, Williams is over being a ‘Daddy’ and is a President 
again and Roh remembers he’s a man and at least gives his support to such an 
operation and promises to keep his left wingers from evicting the American 
troops. What do you suggest we do?”

Fukudome went silent for a few minutes before speaking. “China moves in with 
our support.”

“Support?”

“Troops, we need to have boots on the ground in a direct intervention 
because it gives us access after we’re done and keeps China from completely 
running the show.”

“Politically it would be good as well, we’re an honourary western nation 
these days, it would make the west more comfortable to have ‘one of it’s 
own’ on the ground. Of course there is the constitution to concern ourselves 
with.”

“In all honesty, perhaps because my job at present is in violation of that 
document, I think we can step around it.”

“I disagree or rather think that trend is dangerous, but moving on.”

“Well anyhow the basics of the plan would call for us and China to take on 
the biggest role and scoop out an enclave in Northern North Korea at which 
point we let the liberated peoples form a government of some kind and give 
them some legitimacy. The US is over stretched I’d recommend they handle the 
air component, using stealth bombers to attack the artillery positions in 
the south and take the knife off the South’s throat and then support our 
enclave by doing frequent bombing raids against large formations of troops 
making their way north.”

“And the WMDs.”

“In an ideal world, we could bomb them at the start, we can get some, but 
not all of them. We could expect their deployment against either our advance 
or China and Japan themselves.”

“I see,” Sato said. He’d known that was coming but it didn’t soften the 
blow. To fight this one was to endure a terrible risk. “I understand, anyhow 
General I am about to land, but I will see you get what intelligence we get 
and expect calls from me in the near future.”

“Yes sir.”

“Good,” Sato said. “Thank you.”

He hung up and let out a deep breath and buckled his seatbelt. It was going 
to be a day fraught with difficult decisions.


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