North Korea on Tuesday condemned a Japanese military buildup outlined in a new security strategy, calling it dangerous and vowing counteractions, while also warning of another imminent test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Japan last week announced its biggest military build-up since World War Two as tension with China and a hostile North Korea, and Russia’s Ukraine invasion, stoke fears of war.
North Korea’s foreign ministry said Japan had effectively formalised “the capability for preemptive attack” with its new strategy that would bring a “radical” change to East Asia’s security environment.
The ministry also criticised the United States for “conniving and instigating Japan’s rearmament and reinvasion scheme” saying the United States had no right to question North Korea’s defences.
“The foolish act of Japan seeking to gratify its black-hearted intention, arms buildup for reinvasion, under the pretext of the DPRK’s legitimate exercise of the right to self-defence can never be justified and tolerated,” the official said in a statement carried by the North’s KCNA news agency.
The spokesman referred to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
North Korea will express its displeasure with action to highlight Japan’s “wrong and very dangerous” decision, the spokesperson said, warning of a “shuddering shiver to be felt soon”.
North Korea has tested an unprecedented number of missiles this year, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) designed to reach the US mainland, in defiance of international sanctions.
Several of the North Korean missiles have flown over Japan, or landed in waters near it, drawing condemnation from the staunch US ally.
