Returning from their Golden Week holiday break, the weekly magazines have directed much of their attention to the Korean Peninsula, with a fusillade of commentary by politicians, former diplomats, journalists, academics and the ubiquitous commentators referred to as gunji hyoron-ka — usually translated as military analyst, although some cynics have dubbed them gunji otaku (military geeks).
In response to America's dispatching of the Carl Vinson carrier group to the Sea of Japan, the North Koreans on April 25 conducted a live firing exercise of over 300 artillery pieces. The magazine Aera (May 15) sees the "competing threats" — the term it uses for "show of force" — between North Korea and the United States as an ominous development and possible prelude to war.
"When a potential adversary is not intimidated," the writer comments, "we are tied to a situation where neither side can lower their raised fists. There have been many examples when such threatening acts developed into a shooting war."
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