Alex's Livewire

No I am not talking about Hitler stabbing Stalin in the back.

This is about two more clear enemies, Koizumi Junichiro and Kim Jong Il.

I honestly think we are closer to conflict than we ever have been. Sure in 1998 there was an incident when North Korea fired a missile over Japan. And in 2001 there was a shoot out between a NK spy ship and a Japanese naval vessel. Rockets and everything. But the real conflict started in 2002. This is the year when Kim admitted that many Japanese had been abducted from the beaches of Japan and taken by boat to North Korea against their will.

This 2002 summit was supposed to be about finally starting official relations between the two countries. But when Kim made the admission it started a wave of nationalism in this country that has accomplished the exact opposite. While most of these abductees are back on Japanese soil, struggling to start a new life, some are still in North Korea.

Let's talk about Yokota Megumi. At 13, on the way back from Badminton practice she was taken. Rumor has it that as a young and impressionable girl she was taken right to the top, teaching Japanese to some of the most important people in the country. She probably knows a lot about the leadership and inner workings of the North Korean government. No surpise that she was not listed among the surviving abductees back in 2002.

Apparently she had committed suicide back in 1992. A sad ending, but one that her parents refused to accept. At the time I was thinking - I feel for these parents but it's over - she's dead. But these parents fought on. In the second summit in Pyongyang earlier this year, the North Korean government revised their story. She died in 1994. Cause not quite clear. But they were happy to send her remains back to Japan. These remains were scortched in a very unorthodox fashion, and IDing them would be difficult - impossible thought the North Koreans. But 2 days ago - guess what? DNA tests were unexpectedly successfully performed. The bones were of 2 people - neither of them Yokota Megumi.

The results? Talking heads on TV saying over and over how the great country of Japan is being made a fool of by lowly North Korea. Nationalism is at 200%. Calls for economic sanctions are unilateral, even within the government. One problem - North Korea has said in the past they would take economic sanctions as a declaration of war. Japan and North Korea are currently locked in a dangerous conflict. Both countries are armed to the teeth. North Korea has nuclear weapons, while Japan has weapons that just might be worse. Of course America is also bound to be involved.

Will a little girl start a conflict that might lead to a war? Only time will tell. Right now the Prime Minister is being very cautious about economic sanctions. I think he is the only one with his head screwed on in the whole country.