North Korea recently denounced comments from a senior Japanese government official regarding the need for nuclear weapons as extremely provocative rhetoric. Pyongyang emphasized that Japan’s nuclear ambitions must be decisively blocked.
On December 21, the ruling Workers’ Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun published a statement from the director of the Foreign Ministry’s Japan Research Institute. The statement asserted that the new Japanese cabinet has taken alarmingly aggressive military stances that surpass previous administrations, raising concerns both domestically and internationally.
North Korea highlighted that a high-ranking Japanese official recently made highly provocative statements about Japan’s need to possess nuclear weapons. Pyongyang insisted this was not a mere slip of the tongue or act of bravado, but rather a clear revelation of Japan’s bellicose and expansionist nature.
Earlier, Japanese media outlets including Kyodo News and the Asahi Shimbun reported that on December 18, a security policy official from the Prime Minister’s Office told reporters that Japan should consider nuclear armament. The official cited China’s expanding nuclear capabilities, Russia’s nuclear threats, and North Korea’s nuclear program as justification. However, the official reportedly clarified that these were personal views and that no official discussions on nuclear weapons are taking place within the current administration.
North Korea further noted that immediately following reports of U.S. approval for South Korea to acquire nuclear submarines, senior Japanese officials, including the Chief Cabinet Secretary and Defense Minister, began openly discussing the need for nuclear-powered submarines – a topic previously considered off-limits.
This criticism appears to target Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi’s December 20 inspection of U.S. nuclear submarines stationed in Japan. It also indirectly expresses Pyongyang’s unease regarding U.S. support for South Korea’s nuclear submarine program.
North Korea asserted that Japan’s brazen pursuit of nuclear armament represents the gravest threat that the international community must recognize and condemn. Pyongyang claimed this move is causing serious alarm among regional nations, adding that the global consensus is that only a political decision remains to be made.
The statement concluded by warning that peace-loving, progressive humanity must firmly oppose the dangerous military actions of Japan – a former aggressor nation now racing towards nuclear armament with U.S. backing while denying its sinful past.