When was the last time East Asia had a conniption fit over the “re-militarization” of Japan? (Dokdo doesn’t count…)…

I think one could argue that the convoluted nature of the Yasukuni Shrine issue is a “conniption fit” over the prospect of a remilitarized Japan.

the South is just as obsessed with the nuclear test’s affect on the economy, if not more so than what it means as a safety concern on the peninsula.

This is one of the things that would change if Japan made moves to go through the prolonged process of changing its constitution and beefing up whatever specific tactical arms it would need to have a first-strike capability.

When was the last time East Asia had a conniption fit over the “re-militarization” of Japan? (Dokdo doesn’t count…)…

Was it all the way back in the early to mid-1990s?

There was a short period of noise when Japanese society got up in arms about NK’s first ICBM test that flew over their islands, but I can’t think of the time of the last big brouhaha that extended over a considerable period of time….. I’m thinking it was the Gulf War (Iraq War I) when elements of the Japanese government wanted to join more into the war effort and the US welcomed it —- but other elements in Japan and most of Asia went nuts about it.

The extraneous dash is only one minor problem in an otherwise good post, but I disagree that ROK’s PSI participation will be merely symbolic. South Korea appears to be doing some serious work fighting pirates, and it seems a similar drive could be applied to PSI.

I also wouldn’t fault Lee for the foot-dragging. South Korea joining the PSI has the potential to put ROK forces into military confrontation with DPRK vessels, and there had to be a certain threshold reached (in terms of North Korea’s own outrageous behavior) to justify joining PSI and putting South Korea on the path to possible confrontation. Had Lee been president in 2006 during the first nuclear or meant-to-look-nuclear blast, then we might have seen it then.