Pyongyang reacts angrily to reported remarks by a Japanese official suggesting Tokyo should possess nuclear weapons.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — North Korea on Sunday accused Japan of harboring ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons, warning that any such move must be prevented “at any cost,” after a Japanese official was reportedly quoted as advocating nuclear armament.
Pyongyang’s reaction followed a report by Kyodo News on Thursday quoting an unnamed official in Japan’s prime minister’s office as saying, “I think we should possess nuclear weapons.” The official was reported to have been involved in shaping Japan’s security policy and argued that nuclear weapons were necessary because “in the end, we can only rely on ourselves.”
In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the director of the Institute for Japan Studies under North Korea’s foreign ministry said the remarks showed Tokyo was “openly revealing their ambition to possess nuclear weapons, going beyond the red line.”
“Japan’s attempt to go nuclear must be prevented at any cost as it will bring mankind a great disaster,” the statement said, dismissing the comments as neither accidental nor reckless. Instead, it claimed they reflected Japan’s “long-cherished ambition for nuclear weaponization.”
The North Korean official, who was not named, warned that Japanese nuclear armament would trigger a catastrophic outcome for the region, saying Asian countries would face “a horrible nuclear disaster” with global consequences.
The statement did not address North Korea’s own nuclear program, which has drawn widespread international condemnation. Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 in defiance of United Nations resolutions and is believed to possess dozens of nuclear warheads.
Despite extensive international sanctions, North Korea has repeatedly insisted it will retain its nuclear arsenal, citing the need to deter what it describes as hostile policies by the United States and its allies.
Speaking at the United Nations in September, North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong reaffirmed that position, declaring that Pyongyang would never abandon its nuclear weapons. “We will never give up nuclear, which is our state law, national policy, and sovereign power as well as the right to existence,” he said. “Under any circumstances, we will never walk away from this position.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has also signaled openness to dialogue with Washington, but only under conditions that would allow Pyongyang to keep its nuclear arsenal—an approach that has remained unacceptable to the United States and its allies.
Japan, the only country to have suffered atomic bombings, maintains a pacifist constitution and officially adheres to principles rejecting the possession, production, or hosting of nuclear weapons. However, debates over national defense and deterrence have intensified in recent years amid growing regional tensions involving North Korea, China, and Russia.
AloJapan.com