Pyongyang slams Tokyo for ‘scheme to round off war capabilities’ with joint defense drills

North Korea on Tuesday accused Japan of trying to build up "actual war capabilities" against Pyongyang, insisting that its participation in a series of multilateral joint military exercises involving the United States is an attempt to secure such capabilities.

The accusation came in an article by Kang Won-chol, an international security affairs analyst, carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The article took particular issue with the deployment of the U.S. Typhon missile system in Japan.

"Japan, which has focused on deploying long-range strike means in recent years by lavishing a huge amount of money as military expenditure, resorts to bilateral and multilateral joint military exercises with the U.S. and its vassal forces more eagerly than ever," it said.

"This is a manifestation of their sinister scheme to round off its real war capabilities against the DPRK and other neighboring countries," the article said, referring to the North by the initialism for its official name.

The article came one day after Pyongyang's defense minister issued a statement condemning the ongoing Freedom Edge exercise involving South Korea, the United States and Japan, which began Monday, and the Orient Shield joint drills involving the United States, Japan and Australia, which kicked off Tuesday.

Asserting that Orient Shield is aimed at "strengthening solidarity for coping with various threats in East Asia," Japan has openly pursued military confrontation with other regional countries, the North Korean analyst claimed.

"All the facts prove once again that the only prescription for controlling the descendants of militarism who inherited the genes of aggression is to have overwhelming and unparalleled war deterrent," Kang added. "The attempt of the neo-militarists of Japan to turn the whole archipelago into an 'unsinkable aircraft carrier' will inevitably bring about enormous misfortune."

Yonhap