North Korea’s foreign ministry calls Japan’s new $320 billion security strategy “wrong and dangerous” and promises a response.
North Korea has condemned Japan’s planned military buildup and pledged action against what it called a “wrong and dangerous decision” by Tokyo to strengthen its defense sector.
The statement by North Korea’s foreign ministry on Tuesday comes just days after Japan announced a new $320 billion security strategy.
Japan’s far-reaching five-year military strategy will see the country become the world’s third-biggest military spender after the United States and China.
Japan’s new security strategy formalizes a “new policy of aggression” and fundamentally changes East Asia’s security environment, a spokesman for Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a report released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
In response to Japan’s move to “realize unjust and excessive ambitions,” North Korea “will continue to show how concerned and dissatisfied we are with practical measures,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman criticized the US for “glorifying and instigating Japan’s rearmament and re-invasion plan,” adding that Washington had no right to question Pyongyang’s efforts to strengthen its own defenses.
North Korea’s efforts to improve military capabilities this year have included a record number of ballistic missile launches, including missiles capable of carrying nuclear payloads and varying ranges that could reach the US mainland and allies South Korea and Japan.
North Korea on Monday claimed progress in its efforts to acquire a spy satellite, saying it had launched a test satellite and released low-resolution black-and-white photos showing a view from space of South Korea’s capital Seoul and the nearby city of Incheon.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, some analysts in South Korea said the images were too crude to be satellite photos.
North Korea hit back at those criticisms on Tuesday, with Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying it was “inappropriate and hasty” to judge her country’s satellite capabilities based on those two photos alone.
Pyongyang’s efforts to develop a spy satellite are an “urgent priority directly related to our security,” she said, adding that additional sanctions against her country would not stop such technological developments.
South Korea will seek international support and “seek additional sanctions on us,” she added.
“But if our right to survive and develop is threatened, why are we afraid of sanctions… and why should we stop?”