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There’s been strong criticism of Japan’s defense white paper from some of its neighbours. China and North Korea have published scathing remarks about Tokyo’s assessment of their military activities. Even South Korea has issued an official reprimand.

…The anger in Seoul is significant says Professor Richard Tanter from the Nautilus Institute and the University of Melbourne.

It comes just after the recent collapse of talks between the two US allies on an intelligence-sharing agreement which is not mentioned in the white paper.

Moderated by The Nautilus Institute for Security & Sustainability Director Peter Hayes, with participants Morton H. Halperin, senior advisor for the Open Society Institute; Kim Bong Hyun, deputy minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs; Kawaguchi Yoriko, member of the House of Councillors, Japan; and Fan Jishe, deputy director for the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences discussed how the issue of nuclear-free East Asia zone has changed since the Seoul Nuclear Summit this past March.

Now that Pyongyang has softened its stance, the Nautilus Institute, a think-tank that does research on North Korea, argues the country will not be able to unwind this social and technological change.

North Korea will forsake “total control” and would shift to a model where “the government makes an example of a select group to try and force the rest of the country to stay in line, like the Chinese do,” says Scott Bruce, a Nautilus director.

Although the tense standoff between Chinese and Philippine warships at Scarborough Shoal in the northern South China Sea has been walked back from the brink, it is a harbinger of more confrontations to come. Indeed, more such incidents are inevitable if China and the four Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states — the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei — that also claim the sea’s disputed islands and their adjacent waters and resources cannot agree on and implement a robust code of conduct to govern their activities there.

Japan and the United States are reported to have agreed to change the way American soldiers will be re-distributed throughout the region – a seeming breakthrough to the long-stalled relocation process…If the reports are true, 4,700 marines will be transferred to Guam regardless of what happens to the Futenma airbase while the remaining 3,300 will be transferred elsewhere around the region.

Radio interview with Nautilus Associate, Richard Tanter. Click here for audio.

North Korea allowed limited access to cell phones in December of 2008 and limited access to the internet is available on mobile devices since three years ago. It is estimated that only 0.09 percent of its total population, around 20,000 people (from 23 million citizens), now have cell phones even though 400 million dollars estimated was spent to build the infrastructure of 3G network in the country.

It changes drastically now. November last year, according to Reuters, with 49,000 percent growth, they have hit 1 million users on its new 3G network. Another report from Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability said around 60 percent of people between the ages of 20 and 50 used cell phones in the capital city, Pyongyang, which has a total population of 3 million.

Statistics from last year suggested that more than 1.1 million (less than 5 percent) of the country owned a fixed-line telephone, which had traditionally been more available than mobile, but the increasingly popularity of mobile means it will likely be dominant soon. However, as a report from The Nautilus Institute noted, the cost of devices and tariffs remain beyond the reach of many North Koreans.