SEOUL: The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accused Japan on Wednesday of “transformation into a war state” as Tokyo beefs up its military stance in the Pacific.
Japan has been gradually moving away from its post-World War II pacifist status -- increasing military spending, ramping up defence pacts and deploying missile launchers to its outer islands.
Tokyo´s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Tuesday the military needs to be boosted with a “sense of urgency and crisis”, as a new government assessment warned of growing threats from China, Russia and North Korea. In a statement carried by North Korean state media, Kim Yo Jong said Pyongyang´s “leadership will set up additional military options which are obviously due to Japan´s transformation”.
“Japan, a war criminal state, is accelerating its transformation into a war state,” said her statement published by the Korean Central News Agency. Kim cited Tokyo´s recent test-firing of Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles and its May participation in US-led drills in the Philippines as evidence of Washington´s support for “dangerous military moves” in the Pacific.
Tokyo is moving “to formulate the possession of the capability for preemptive attack”, she said. “We will never remain a passive onlooker to the military evolution of Japan which may pose a grave threat.”
Japan´s defence ministry declined to comment directly on Kim´s diatribe but told AFP that the country´s defence capabilities “remain bare minimum” and “are not meant to threaten other countries”.
