North Korean missile launch highlights gap in Japan's risk management
TOKYO (AFP) SPACE DAILY Feb 25, 2003
Senior lawmakers demanded to know why Japan's Prime Minister was only told of North Korea's missile launch a day after the test-firing here Tuesday, saying the breakdown in communication was evidence of a hole in the country's crisis-management.
"Our crisis management is so poor," said Hisaoki Kamei, a former minister of national land.
...The Japanese government was accused of being ill-prepared during the 1991 Gulf War, when it took time in determining its contribution. It was also accused of acting too slowly in dealing with the hostage-taking incident at its ambassador's residence in Peru in 1996 and the killer earthquake which flattened Kobe in 1995.