In the New Year too, Japan persists in its worrisome moves to rush into a military power.

On January 3, Japanese government official disclosed that a policy was formulated to loosen the working guide of “three principles of defense equipment transfer” so as to make it possible for Japan to export and to jointly develop and produce different kinds of weapons in the year 2023.

This will revitalize the munitions industry of Japan and enable Japan to deliver tanks, missiles, combat airplanes and other weapons with killing capacity to any part of the world including disputed regions at will.

To state the conclusion first, Japan was termed by the UN Charter as an “enemy state” as it was one of the criminal states during the 2 nd World War. But it has today shown its true colors as a war state, throwing off its mask of a “peace state”, when it is now 77 years since the end of the war.

When we look at the 2010s alone, Japanese authorities have deceived the international community continuously in security-related issues, just carrying two faces under one hood.

In 2014 when Abe took power, Japan abolished “three principles of arms export” which had prohibited in principle the export of weapons and provided “three principles of defense equipment transfer”, paving the way for overseas export and joint development of defense equipment.

Japan also tolerated the right to “collective self-defense” by changing the interpretation of the constitution in 2014 and adopted the Security Law in 2015. And in 2022, it legalized the possession of capability for preemptive strike, including the possession of “counterattack capability”, by adopting three major documents on security.

As a result, the principle of “total defense” stipulated in the Article 9 of the Peace Constitution existed since 1947, is now reduced to a mere scrap of paper and a legal framework was provided, allowing Japan to launch a war at any time.

It is no coincidence that voices of concern and anxiety are even growing within Japan criticizing such movement as “an act of ensuring security that instigates arms race”, “betrayal of predecessors’ post-war bid to keep peace in Japan” and so on.

This only makes it clear that Japan, though outwardly trumpeting “a peaceful state”, is destroying and endangering peace and stability of the region and international community by aggravating situation and arms race.

Min Gyong Mu

Researcher of Institute for Studies of Japan

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DPRK