By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-02 04:21:39 | Updated at 2025-04-03 06:28:01
1 day ago
North Korea has criticised a recent agreement by Japan and the United States on co-producing air-to-air missiles, saying it aggravates regional security risks and is another example of Washington’s push to militarise Japan.
At a time the US is upgrading its military command in Japan, the two countries’ cooperation in munitions production clearly has military and aggressive intentions aimed at countries in the region, North Korean state news agency KCNA said on Wednesday.
The comments were attributed to an unnamed official of North Korea’s defence ministry and did not name specific countries.
But the official referred to the AIM-120 air-to-air missile system that the US and Japan have agreed to accelerate co-producing during US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to Tokyo at the weekend.
Advancing the deployment of such a weapon used by aircraft involved in frequent military drills in the region that already pose a grave security threat adds a “new element of strategic instability to the Asia-Pacific region”, the official said.
“Certainly, the centre of gravity of the US hegemony-oriented military security strategy is changing and it is a new warning signal for the Asia-Pacific regional society including the countries in Northeast Asia,” the official said.
The agreement comes as “the US has connived at and encouraged Japan’s moves for a military giant since last century,” the official added.
