SEOUL
\nNorth Korea on Tuesday condemned a Japanese military buildup outlined in a new security strategy, calling it dangerous and vowing counteractions, while also warning of another imminent test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
\nJapan last week announced its biggest military build-up since World War Two as tension with China and a hostile North Korea, and Russia\u2019s Ukraine invasion, stoke fears of war.
\nNorth Korea\u2019s foreign ministry said Japan had effectively formalised \u201cthe capability for preemptive attack\u201d with its new strategy that would bring a \u201cradical\u201d change to East Asia\u2019s security environment.
\nThe ministry also criticised the United States for \u201cconniving and instigating Japan\u2019s rearmament and reinvasion scheme\u201d saying the United States had no right to question North Korea\u2019s defences.
\n\u201cThe foolish act of Japan seeking to gratify its black-hearted intention, arms buildup for reinvasion, under the pretext of the DPRK\u2019s legitimate exercise of the right to self-defence can never be justified and tolerated,\u201d the official said in a statement carried by the North\u2019s KCNA news agency.
\nThe spokesman referred to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea.
\nNorth Korea will express its displeasure with action to highlight Japan\u2019s \u201cwrong and very dangerous\u201d decision, the spokesperson said, warning of a \u201cshuddering shiver to be felt soon\u201d.
\nNorth Korea has tested an unprecedented number of missiles this year, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) designed to reach the US mainland, in defiance of international sanctions.
\nSeveral of the North Korean missiles have flown over Japan, or landed in waters near it, drawing condemnation from the staunch US ally.<\/p>\n
Impending ICBM test?
\nIn a separate statement, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, hinted at a technological advance in its ICBM system, and denounced questions over what North Korea said was its bid to develop a spy satellite.
\nNorth Korea fired two medium-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Sunday, calling it an \u201cimportant\u201d test for the development of a reconnaissance satellite that it hopes to complete by April.
\nExperts have raised doubts over the level of North Korea\u2019s satellite technology but Kim Yo Jong derided them and suggested advances in her country\u2019s missile programmes, including ICBM developments.
\nNorth Korea has test-fired its ICBMs at a steep angle and analysts say a normal launch angle requires more sophisticated technology to resist heat generated during re-entry into the atmosphere.
\n\u201cI can clear up their doubt about it,\u201d Kim Yo Jong said. \u201cThey will immediately recognise it in case we launch an ICBM in the way of a real angle firing straight off.\u201d
\nShe dismissed any threat of new sanctions.
\n\u201cAt this time when our right to existence and development is being threatened, how can we stop our advance for fear of sanctions that we have experienced abominably, not for the first time,\u201d she said.
\nHours after the North\u2019s statements, the US Air Force flew B-52 strategic bombers and F-22 fighter jets to South Korea for joint drills with F-35 and F-15K fighters, in their latest display of force against North Korea.
\nThe participation of the F-22 Raptor fifth-generation stealth fighters, currently based in Japan\u2019s Okinawa, was their first since May 2018 when the allies staged joint exercises in South Korea.
\nA spokesman of South Korea\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff declined to discuss any signs or possibility of another ICBM test but said it was monitoring the North\u2019s nuclear and missile activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL North Korea on Tuesday condemned a Japanese military buildup outlined in a new security strategy, calling it dangerous and vowing counteractions, while also warning of another imminent test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Japan last week announced its biggest military build-up since World War Two as tension with China and a hostile North Korea, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-302447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n