Day 290: Trump to Japan: Why Didn’t Your Samurai Warriors Shoot Down North Korean Missiles?

Donald Trump’s 12-day, five-nation jaunt to Asia is officially underway as Trump landed in Tokyo. One of the key points of the trip will focus on an increasingly aggressive North Korea.

The Japan Times reports that Trump, in calls with Asian leaders over recent months, has asked why Japan’s “samurai warriors” did not shoot down North Korean test missiles earlier this year.

Trump questioned Japan’s decision not to shoot down the missiles when he met or spoke by phone with leaders from Southeast Asian countries over recent months to discuss how to respond to the threats from North Korea, the sources said.

The U.S. president said he could not understand why a country of samurai warriors did not shoot down the missiles, the sources said.

First, samurai have not existed in Japan since the 1860s, when the feudal system in Japan ended.

Next, as the Japan Times noted, attempted intervention would be quite risky.

But the altitude and speed of the missiles would have made it very difficult to destroy them in flight, while failure would have been embarrassing for Japan and encouraging to North Korea.

Finally, it might not be legal for Japan to do so.

Defense Ministry officials … said there were also legal issues to clear.

But yeah, sure, other than all that, why didn’t the samurai shoot the North Korean missiles down?

290 days in, 1172 to go

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