North Korea on Saturday denounced Japan's plan to adopt a record defense budget for next year, saying it paves the way for an "aggressive war" and vowing to respond "comprehensively, strongly and in a united manner."
North Korea's stance came after Japan's Defense Ministry requested 9.8 trillion yen, or about $60 billion, for its defense budget in the next fiscal year last Wednesday. The final figure is expected to rise to nearly 10 trillion yen when the budget is approved at the end of this year, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing foreign media reports.
North Korea's state news agency, KCNA, quoted an opinion piece published in Rodong Sinmun, the country's most widely circulated newspaper, as saying that "inflating the war budget poses a grave danger and leads to instability in the region and the world as a whole."
The article added that the large increase in military spending is nothing but an "arms race aimed at completing preparations for launching an aggressive war," accusing the international community of turning a blind eye to this trend by "the descendants of a state condemned for its military aggression," and stressing that the response will be "firm and unified."
The newspaper also criticized Japan for importing American "Tomahawk" missiles, at a time when Japan's public debt reached a record high of 1,343 trillion yen by the end of last year.
The North Korean agency said that spending these funds does not serve the building of a "peace state," considering it naive to believe that Japan is able to hide its militaristic nature, which it described as aggressive, behind slogans of "defense" and "self-defense."
