Japan's Arms Buildup Is Not for Self-Defense: KCNA Commentary

Pyongyang, April 13 (KCNA) -- Japan is still accelerating its arms buildup.

It has recently placed in commission new-type escort ship Kumano capable of carrying out anti-ship, anti-air and mine-clearing operations with improved stealth technology in contrast to the existing ones.

The escort ship Izmo was launched after being transformed into an aircraft carrier and another one Kaga is being remodeled into a carrier for F-35Bs.

Japan's arms buildup is dangerous in the light of its nature and content.

Japan is a war criminal nation which inflicted horrible calamities upon humankind in the past century.

It is obliged to atone for the past crimes and draw a lesson from the history of defeat, as demanded by the international community. It should no longer engage in war moves.

Moreover, Japan is banned from possessing an army and exercising the right to belligerency and the right to participate in a war by international laws, including "Potsdam Declaration" and the UN Charter, as well as by its constitution. Military activities of its "Self-Defense Forces" are possible only when they conform to the principle of "exclusive defense".

Nevertheless, Japan, seeking revenge for its past defeat, term its past aggression against other countries in the past century "just annexation for protecting security of Asia" and "great East Asia war for liberating colonies".

It converted the military principle of SDF into preemptive attack from "exclusive defense" and extended its operation scope to outer space, cyber, electromagnetic fields, not content with dispatching its troops to different parts of the world.

Its ever-increasing annual military expenditure hits an all-time high to put the attack capabilities of SDF on the world's highest level and its newly commissioned war equipment are named after those of the erstwhile Imperial Japanese Army notorious in battlefields of aggression like Noshiro and Kumano.

In case Japan crosses the red line in its arms buildup and finally has access to the "capability for attacking enemy bases", its start of reinvasion will be a matter of time.

Japan's arms buildup is not for self-defense but risky preparatory moves for a war aimed at avenging its past defeat and realizing the wild ambition for overseas aggression.

The international community is closely following the moves of Japan seeking a chance for aggression.

If it launches reinvasion at last, blinded by its anachronistic wild ambition, Japan will inevitably face more disgraceful ruin than the past. -0-

www.kcna.kp (Juche111.4.13.)