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JAPAN-NKOREA-US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY
Japan says halting missile drills after Trump-Kim summit
TOKYO, June 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Japan is suspending evacuation drills
simulating a North Korean missile attack after historic talks between
Washington and Pyongyang, its top government spokesman said Friday.
The decision comes after US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s
leader Kim Jong Un met last week in Singapore and signed a joint document
calling for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
“Following achievements made in the US-North Korea summit, we will halt
drills involving residents for the time being,” Yoshihide Suga told
reporters, confirming earlier reports.
Instead, the government will shift its focus to keeping people informed
about the nation’s alert system and “how to behave” if missiles strike
Japanese territory, said Suga.
Last year, Pyongyang fired two missiles over Japan and it has splashed
others into the sea near the country, sparking a mix of panic and outrage.
North Korea has singled out Japan, a key US ally in the region, for verbal
attacks, threatening to “sink” the country into the sea and to turn it into
“ashes”.
But the regional mood has turned towards diplomacy since the Winter
Olympics in South Korea earlier this year, which set off a series of
diplomatic moves culminating in the Trump-Kim meet.
Following the decision, nine drills planned for this year will be
cancelled, a cabinet office official said.
Two drills have already been held this year, and 24 took place in the
fiscal year to March, including one in Tokyo in January when hundreds of
residents scrambled for cover at an amusement park.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0847 hrs