North Korea threatens to "thoroughly counterattack" Japan's largest-ever defense budget

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeon Myung-hoon = On the 22nd, North Korea responded to the Japanese Ministry of Defense's decision to allocate the largest defense budget ever, up to 10 trillion yen (approximately 88 trillion won), threatening that "the local community will never condone the military evolution process of the descendants of war criminals, and will thoroughly counterattack with united power."

In a commentary published on page 6 of the Rodong Sinmun that day, the Korean Central News Agency said, “Renewing the war budget record will only increase Japan’s ‘security deficit.’”

The Ministry of Defense previously set a defense budget of 8.9 trillion yen (approximately 79 trillion won) in next year's budget at the ministry level on the 19th. In addition, there are 150 'request' projects with undetermined amounts, so the final budget to be confirmed at the end of the year is expected to increase to around 10 trillion yen in total.

The Korean Central News Agency claimed that Japan's defense spending is at an all-time high, adding, "It is a dangerous expansion of the war budget that will bring about new turmoil in the region and the world," and added, "It goes without saying that the huge increase in military spending will lead to a build-up of armed forces to complete preparations for war of aggression."

The Korean Central News Agency also pointed out that Japan's introduction of American-made Tomahawk missiles occurred at a time when Japan's national debt reached its highest level of 1,343 trillion yen as of the end of last year, adding, "It is very obvious that the purpose of wasting a huge amount of public money is not to build a 'peaceful nation.'"

The news agency added, “It is foolish to think that the vicious militaristic nature of invasion and war can be covered up with the façade of ‘defense’ and ‘self-defense.’”