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North Korea warned Wednesday that it would develop additional military options in response to Japan’s expanding defense capabilities, accusing Tokyo of transforming itself into a “war state.”
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, issued the warning in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Pyongyang’s leadership “will set up additional military options which are obviously due to Japan’s transformation,” she said.
“Japan, a war criminal state, is accelerating its transformation into a war state,” Kim added.
Japan has gradually moved away from its post-World War II pacifist position by increasing military spending, strengthening defense partnerships and deploying missile launchers to its outer islands.
Tokyo’s defense minister said Tuesday that Japan needed to strengthen its military with a “sense of urgency and crisis,” as a new government assessment warned of growing threats from China, Russia and North Korea.
Kim cited Japan’s recent test-firing of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles and its participation in U.S.-led military drills in the Philippines in May as evidence of Washington’s support for what she described as dangerous military activity in the Pacific.
Japan’s Defense Ministry confirmed Wednesday that last week’s Tomahawk launch was the country’s first such test. Japan has begun receiving the U.S.-made missiles and has prepared the destroyer Chokai to operate them.
Tokyo was moving “to formulate the possession of the capability for preemptive attack,” Kim said.
“We will never remain a passive onlooker to the military evolution of Japan which may pose a grave threat,” she added.
Japan occupied the Korean Peninsula until its surrender in World War II in 1945, after which Korea was divided into separate states along the 38th parallel.
The legacy of Japan’s violent colonial rule continues to influence the foreign policies of both North and South Korea.
“If the descendants of militarism, who have inherited the genes of cunning and aggression, have seized deadly weapons in their hands, something unpleasant will happen,” Kim said.
Japan has hosted U.S. military bases since its surrender in World War II.
The country increased military spending by 9.7% to $62.2 billion in 2025, equal to 1.4% of gross domestic product and its highest share since 1958.
China, a key ally of North Korea, has also expressed concern over what it describes as Japan’s “new militarism.”
Relations deteriorated after Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that Chinese military action to seize Taiwan could warrant a response from Japan’s armed forces.
Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out taking the island by force.
North Korea has repeatedly described itself as an “irreversible” nuclear state since Kim Jong Un’s 2019 summit with U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed over disagreements concerning denuclearization and sanctions relief.
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