After attending the NATO summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Germany last Friday and held a summit with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. They announced plans to expand military and economic security cooperation during the summit.
The two leaders shared the understanding that the security of the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are inseparable due to the strengthening relations between Russia and North Korea following the war in Ukraine. Considering China’s export and import regulations, they agreed to establish a new framework for consultation in the economic security sector, such as the construction of essential minerals supply chains and semiconductor development and production.
The Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) was launched that day, allowing the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the German military to provide food and energy mutually. They agreed to carry forward defense cooperation and disclosed the training content of a German Air Force and naval escort ship visiting Japan this summer and a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force training fleet docking in Hamburg, Germany.
North Korea criticized this as a “military folly that disrupts regional peace and stability by colluding with foreign forces,” denouncing it as a “dangerous military collusion of the old war-criminal nations.”
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) expressed concern in a commentary titled “Dangerous Military Collusion of Old War-Criminal Nations Aggravating Regional Situation” on Monday, saying, “The precarious situation today reminds us of the eve of World War II when Fascist Italy and militarist Japan formed a military alliance and brought catastrophic disaster to humanity.”
It also warned that “it is a serious situation to aggravate the regional situation for the defeated old war-criminal nations are conspiring and spreading aggressive war exercises.”
From the following 19th to the 25th, they plan to conduct joint training with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force around Hokkaido and Kanto, along with the three NATO-member countries, the air forces of Germany, France, and Spain. In late August, they are preparing for joint training in the sea and air around Japan with the Italian aircraft carrier and fighter jets, according to an announcement by the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
The KCNA pointed out that “it’s no secret that Japan, which has gone mad with revengeful ambitions after its defeat, has fully prepared to break a war at any time as an incursive military entity under the protection of the United States.” By highlighting the recent Freedom Edge, the first multi-domain joint military exercise in the water around the Korean Peninsula involving the U.S., Japan, and South Korea, they indicated that Japan’s expanded defense capabilities target the Korean Peninsula.
The KCNA explained, “Japan, feeling extreme anxiety about the increasingly declining United States due to the strengthening of anti-hegemonic independent capabilities against the U.S.’s hegemonic strategy, has staked its life on closer military ties with NATO.”
They further warned Japan that “disrupting the regional security environment will not leave Japan unscathed. Japan must remember that running military cooperation wildly with foreign forces is a path to its destruction and will only make it a common target of the righteous regional community.”
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