Seoul, June 8 (BNA): Tokyo has welcomed South Korea’s tougher stance toward North Korea under its new conservative president as Japan seeks to boost its military capabilities amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula and more broadly in the region.
South Korea and the United States this week launched missiles and staged a joint display of air power in response to a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea.
It was the second time South Korean President Yun Seok-yeol has taken such a direct response since taking office in May with a vow to respond more forcefully if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ignores warnings about military provocations and offers of dialogue.
“The escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula, and North Korea’s actions and our response to that, as we’ve seen, should be something that brings a smile to Japan’s face,” said Kim Dong-yeop of Kyungnam University in Seoul.
Kim, a former officer in the South Korean Navy, said signs that North Korea is preparing for another nuclear test and the resumption of joint South Korea-US military exercises help Japan justify its quest to become a normal military nation.
For decades, Japan has adhered to a policy of keeping defense spending within 1% of GDP, to counter concerns about any revival of militarism that led the country into World War II.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has stressed Tokyo’s willingness to take a more aggressive defensive posture, something Washington has long welcomed to counter an increasingly assertive and militarily capable China.
The Kishida administration is expected to require Japan to acquire missiles and other equipment to allow it to strike enemy bases, a capability that critics say puts Japan outside the confines of a pacifist constitution that prohibits it from waging war.
ZHB