Inside News From Japan:
The Weekly Post Special:
Balloon Bomb May Have Already Reached Japan from North Korea
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Relations between Japan and North Korea are deteriorating, and not only due to the issue of the abduction of Japanese civilians by North Korean spies.
During July and August, a large, unidentified balloon reached the coast of Japan. The Japanese law enforcement authority confidentially recovered it. The balloon is now believed to have come from North Korea.
The arrival of the balloon prompted the Japanese government to secretly alert local governments to prepare for possible attacks by the North Koreans.
1. Balloon With Bio-Chemical Weapon
A source at the Cabinet Office told The Weekly Post, "The balloon was 10 meters in diameter and made of polyethylene. It had a bottle hung from it which was equipped with a timer. Fortunately, the bottle was empty, but could have contained bio-chemical weapons such as smallpox, anthrax or sarin gas, according to sources at Japan's Self Defense Force and police department,
"It seemed to have been designed to be a time bomb. A report was made to Prime Minister Koizumi who decided not to disclose the information to the public. At that time, the Japanese government was engaged in tough negotiations with the North Korean government for realizing a meeting between the two leaders. The Japanese government did not want to the nation to increase its ambivalence towards North Korea."
Last summer, negotiations between Japan and North Korean Red Cross organizations had been reopened, which helped diplomatic dialogue progress between the two countries. Also, the North Korean government was repeatedly demonstrating its covert operations such as sending spy boats to the Sea of Japan in order to influence the negotiation.
The balloon was first found in a mountain near Taraki-cho town, Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu Island. It was found last April.
A witness who first found the balloon remarked, "I found the balloon in a forest 250-meters away from a trail. People in our town will not enter such a forest. When I was walking in the forest to decide what trees we should cut down, I found that four or five white cedar trees had died and their trunks had rotted. Also, I noticed abnormal growth of weeds under those trees,
"I wondered what caused the trees to die and the growth of the abnormal weeds. Then, about 150 meters away from there, I saw a large balloon made of vinyl on the ground. I guessed that it was a sheet of vinyl used for green houses by neighboring farmers that may have been blown by strong winds. I just left it there. I had a chance to revisit the site with my colleagues and checked the balloon. Surprisingly, one string of the balloon had a timer device and two bottles. We immediately reported it to the police."
On the side of the timer device was marked '99-12-236" with a fluorescent pen, which led us to believe that the balloon reached there in 1999. When the bottles were found, they contained liquid, but it was considered that rain water had gotten into the bottles.
However, the death of the white cedar trees and abnormal weed growth raised suspicion that the bottle could have contained chemicals. There was a possibility that when the balloon reached the site, the timer worked, sprayed the chemicals and killed the trees.
2. Counter Terrorist Attacks
As soon as the Prime Minister Residential Office confirmed the arrival of the balloon, it decided to allocate enough funds to cope with possible terrorist attacks. The budget included coverage of the costs for developing and producing vaccines for smallpox and anthrax germs and enough antidotes for sarin gas to treat 10-million Japanese.
"It is difficult for us to anticipate where these balloon bombs would land if they come. They are really scary. They may hit reservoirs or residential areas. That's why we decided to produce those vaccines and antidotes," said an executive of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The Health Ministry issued a notice to the governors of prefectures on October 29. The notice says, "As indicated in the guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of infections by anthrax, smallpox, or generated by wild rabbits, please establish a system to consult with medical experts to cope with such problems."
The ministry also decided to hold training sessions for the doctors at emergency disease services centers and hospitals to cope with possible chemical weapon attacks. The Health Ministry said, "We are alerting them of possible terrorist attacks by bio-chemical weapons, but we are not specifying who will attack or what kind of weapons will be used."
Of course, attacks by balloon bombs are included in the possible attack cases.
Professor Hirosuke Tanaka in the Earth Science Department of Tsukuba University said, "The strongest jet stream in the prevailing westerlies is blowing from west to east over Japan. In the winter, its velocity reaches 360 kilometers an hour and in the summer, it reaches around 108 kilometer. The balloon in the question must have been brought by such strong winds,
"The westerlies are constantly streaming along the latitude and North Korea and Japan's Northeastern region are located on the same latitude. Therefore, balloon bombs are likely to hit that area. Of course, meteorological conditions will change the direction of the balloon bombs. They will not necessarily hit the Northeaster region. They may hit other parts of Japan. All of Japan is exposed to the danger of balloon bomb attacks."
The Prime Minister's Residential Office has reopened the negotiation for normalizing diplomatic ties with the North Korean government after Prime Minister Koizumi's meeting with North Korean leader Kim. The Prime Minister's Office should alert the nation of the danger of possible attacks by balloon bombs from North Korea.
Mr. Kelly, the US Assistant Secretary of State stated publicly that North Korea had not only nuclear weapons but also bio-chemical weapons. The Japanese government should take proper measures to counter any types of attack by North Korea.
http://www.weeklypost.com/021118/021118a.htm
?let's react and go green, stop driving your car in the name of war on terror !!! 
but the project was stopped due to funding , ......
