North Korea has warned that it will adopt “additional military options” in response to what it described as Japan’s growing military capabilities, following Tokyo’s successful test launch of a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile.
In a statement carried by state media KCNA on Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accused Japan of moving beyond a purely defensive military posture and transforming its armed forces into one capable of carrying out pre-emptive strikes and overseas operations.
Pyongyang cites missile tests and joint drills
Kim pointed to Japan’s recent Tomahawk missile test conducted from the Aegis destroyer Chokai in the Pacific Ocean, as well as other missile tests and the country’s participation in a US-led joint military exercise in the Philippines in May.
She said North Korea would respond in a way that would make Japan feel its own security had become more vulnerable.
“We should make it regret,” she said, in one of Pyongyang’s strongest remarks directed at Tokyo in recent months.
Kim also accused the United States of facilitating Japan’s military expansion by supplying Tomahawk missiles, modifying vessels to operate the weapons and supporting the missile tests.
“The US is behind such dangerous military moves of Japan,” she said.
North Korea signals possible response
Kim, who heads the record-keeping department of North Korea’s ruling party, said Japan’s acquisition of long-range strike capabilities had effectively placed North Korea and other neighbouring countries within range.
To counter what she described as military activities that could threaten North Korea’s security, she said Pyongyang would establish “additional military options”, but did not provide further details.
The statement is the latest in a series of North Korean commentaries criticising security cooperation among the United States, South Korea and Japan.
Since July, KCNA has published at least six editorials and commentaries condemning the three countries’ joint military activities, describing them as a threat to regional security and a source of heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Analysts see message aimed at justifying weapons programme
Analysts said North Korea is seeking to portray Japan’s military modernisation as a direct security threat to justify its own continued weapons development.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kim’s remarks were intended to frame Japan’s military expansion as part of a broader US strategy to strengthen allied military capabilities against North Korea.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the rhetoric could lay the groundwork for future military demonstrations, including missile launches or displays involving undersea strike capabilities.
