Arab News Japan

TOKYO: North Korea says the joint production of advanced weapons by the United States and Japan has added a new element of strategic instability to the Asia-Pacific region and sends out “signals of instability” to neighboring countries.

The Deputy Director General of the General Equipment Bureau of North Korea’s Ministry of National Defense issued a statement on Tuesday, saying that “the focus of the United States’ hegemonic military security strategy is clearly shifting, which is a new warning signal for the Asia-Pacific community, including the countries of Northeast Asia.”

The Deputy Director General stated: “Washington and its minions’ attempts at military hegemony will never be tolerated. The seriousness of the problem lies in the production of fighter aircraft weapons for the purposes of airspace defense or gaining air superiority.”

The statement says the various fighter jets mobilized for the US-Japan and US-Japan-South Korea trilateral training exercises can carry AIM-120 missiles, which “can be positioned as another new ‘co-organized weapon’ of the US-Japan military alliance,” which, it says, is being transformed into an offensive pact.

The North says the United States “has encouraged Japan’s efforts to become a military superpower” and has expanded the scope of the US-Japan Security Treaty from “emergencies in Japan” to now include “emergencies in the surrounding areas,” and is supporting Japan’s possession of “counterattack capabilities.”

In response, the statement concluded, “It will continue to be a priority for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to proactively address the unstable strategic environment that the United States and its allies are creating around our country and to build up a powerful deterrent force that will force our adversaries to abandon their political and military ambitions.”