N. Korea says Japan's push to raise defense spending will only burden its people

North Korea has lambasted Japan's plans to boost defense spending, warning it will hinder the country's economic recovery and impose severe hardships on its population. This criticism was published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which cited a researcher from the Institute for Japan Studies within North Korea's foreign ministry. The report follows media accounts suggesting Tokyo is contemplating nearly doubling its defense expenditures over the next five years.

North Korea has historically been highly sensitive to any potential Japanese military reinforcements, arguing that such moves could exacerbate regional arms races, amplify military tensions, and evoke memories of Japan's past militarism during its colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. The KCNA emphasized that the rise in military spending would not only tarnish the outlook for Japan's economic revival but also exact heavy burdens on the populace, falling short of enhancing the nation's security environment.

The researcher at the Institute for Japan Studies termed Japan's decision to heighten defense spending as an "anachronistic calculation," asserting that it would only serve to worsen the situation.