金与正氏、日本の先制攻撃能力保有を非難する談話を発表＝KCNA

Pyongyang, August 5 (KCNA) — Kim Yo Jong, department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, issued the following press statement “War criminal state Japan’s possession of the capability for preemptive attack is a grave threat destroying global peace and security” on August 5: Japan, a war criminal state, is accelerating its transformation into a war state, taking advantage of the acute and variable trend of the present international situation in which global geopolitical conflicts and inter-camp confrontation are getting fiercer. Some days ago, Japan conducted a test-fire of Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles loaded on Aegis destroyer Chokai of the Japan Maritime “Self-Defense Force” in the Pacific Ocean. Earlier, it took part in the U.S.-led joint military drills on the northern coast of Luzon Island, the Philippines in May and committed the launch of offensive missiles outside its territory for the first time after its defeat. Such military actions prove that Japan’s moves to formulate the possession of the capability for preemptive attack through the revision of the “national security strategy” at the end of 2022, contrary to the international law and its constitution which disallowed the possession of war potentials, the right to participate in a war and the right to belligerency, are entering the stage of the actual act. In March, Japan deployed type 12 surface-to-ship guided missiles with a range of about 1,000 km and type 25 high-speed gliding projectiles flying at supersonic speed at high altitude at the posts of the Ground “Self-Defense Force” in Kumamoto and Shizuoka prefectures respectively, thus opening up the prelude to the possession of the capability for preemptive attack. Recently, it deployed the launcher of type 12 surface-to-ship guided missiles and a reconnaissance drone for confirming the target position on its island in the Pacific Ocean. It is stepping up the delivery of cruise missiles to be loaded into the “F-35A” fighters of the Air “Self-Defense Force” and planning to develop and introduce an unmanned submarine capable of attacking a warship under the pretext of “tightened defense system in the Pacific Ocean”. The mass possession of different kinds of long-range strike means with an unexpectedness of preemptive attack and a drastic increase in the radius of their operation and their deployment of multi-demesne forward spaces for actual war, including sea, underwater and air, make Japan reorganize its overall armed forces as a formation of preemptive attack and overseas aggression. Japan has so far behaved as a “peace-loving state” in the international arena, branding neighboring countries’ measures for bolstering up their self-defense capabilities as “threat” and “provocation”. It is now clear that such moves were, after all, a camouflaged tactic to cover up its ambition for a military giant. What should not be overlooked is that the U.S. is behind such dangerous military moves of Japan. It is not a secret that the U.S. has handed over Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles to Japan, remodeled a warship to be used in its operation and provided all conditions and environment for its test-fire including the place of launch. The U.S. is threatening the strategic space of Russia in Europe by placing NATO in front and violating peace and security in the Middle East. It is also seriously encroaching upon the security interests of the independent countries against imperialism by letting its junior stooges like Japan and the ROK as shock brigade in the Asia-Pacific region. Japan’s military expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, which is being turned into the world’s biggest hotspot due to the U.S. exclusive and aggressive foreign policy with its hegemonic maintenance as its ultimate goal, is a dangerous development of the situation that seriously threatens international peace and stability. Japan has not made public detailed information about the water area it conducted the test-fire,