{
  "id": 18415395,
  "title": "N. Korea says Japan's push to raise defense spending will only burden its people",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/06/n-korea-says-japans-push-to-raise-defense-spending-will-only-burden-18415395",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-06T01:37:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/20261106/n-korea-says-japans-push-to-raise-defense-spending-will-only-burden-its-people"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "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.\n\nNorth 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.\n\nThe 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.",
  "summary": "North Korea on Friday criticized Japan's push to increase defense spending, saying it will darken prospects of Japan's economic recovery and impose \"heavy hardships\" on its people. In an article carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a researcher at the Institute for Japan Studies under the North's foreign ministry, issued the criticism, following reports that Tokyo is…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Yonhap News",
        "title": "S. Korea should deepen work with U.S., Japan on sanctions against N.K. after Binance theft: expert",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/05/s-korea-should-deepen-work-with-u-s-japan-on-sanctions-against-n-k",
        "published": "2026-11-05T21:57:52.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}