Arab News Japan

TOKYO: North Korea has criticized Japan for increasing its military capabilities, particularly long-range missiles, and accused it of planning to invade overseas countries.

The Korean Central News Agency published a commentary on Saturday titled “What does the normalization of missile launch training on the archipelago suggest?” It outlined how Japan’s military has been carrying out training for ground-to-ship missile launches.

The North accused Japan of “mastering the ability of war of aggression” while making plans for an overseas invasion. Japan, it says, already has the missile capacity to attack its neighbors with plans to extend the range of their missiles by 1,000 kilometers next year and to produce ballistic missiles with a 3,000-kilometer range.

“Japanese military nationalists are also moving to reorganize and strengthen the ‘Self-Defense Forces’ into an offensive-type aggressive force,” the commentary said. “Japan’s ultimate goal, which has been on the path of militarism, is to prepare Japan as a warlike nation and embark on a continental invasion, as in the past.”

The commentary says Japan has “completed its preparations for war on the mainland” and is testing out its combat capabilities at home, suggesting that it won’t “dare to conduct missile launch exercises outside the archipelago.” It adds that Japan is using the excuse of strengthening security at home to plan for a “surprise pre-emptive attack plan against neighboring countries.”

It concludes that Japan is “a war criminal country that has not abandoned the realization of the ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.’ Japan, which has maneuvered into a pre-emptive attack position, must not miscalculate.”