The will of Japan to acquire means of hitting in enemy territory throws trouble in the Korean peninsula, where the memory of the occupation and Japanese militarism remains strong.
By Philippe Mesmer (Tokyo, Correspondence)
The renunciation of Japan to its strict defensive posture to acquire means of “counterattack” in the face of the threats represented by North Korea, China and Russia goes badly in the Korean peninsula, where the memory of militarism Nippon remains lively.
First target of this new desire announced on December 16 by Tokyo, North Korea villed on Tuesday 20, a defense strategy accused of fueling a “new aggression policy” justified by what Pyongyang presents as “The legitimate exercise of the right to self -defense” of the North.
For North Korea, the new deal represents a “radical change” of the security environment in East Asia. The authorities criticize the United States for “encouraging the rearmament project and a new invasion of Japan”.
Without being as virulent, the reactions in South Korea bear witness to real concern after the announcements by Japan to acquire means of hitting sites in enemy territory which would represent a potential threat and to carry its budget of the Defense at 2 % of the gross domestic product, compared to 1 % today. “This means that [Japan] seeks to become a country capable of carrying out a war,” said Lim O-Kyeong, deputy and spokesperson for the main opposition party, the Democratic Party. “Japan continues its ambition to become a military superpower up to its status as a third world economy, to realize the dream of its most right-wing fringe, which was part of the former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [2012-2020]”, even worries the daily Dong-A, however conservative and deemed moderate in his criticisms of the authorities of the archipelago.
The majority of commentators certainly admit the need for cooperation with Japan and the United States – who praised the Japanese decision – facing a North Korea who chained missile fire in 2022; One of them even flew over Japanese territory in October. But everyone wonders about the future attitude of a neighbor to the colonialist and militarist past still present in the spirits. “Japan has a dark story: it has invaded the Korean peninsula on multiple times and killed many innocent people during the Second World War”, recalls, in its editorial of December 19, the daily The Korea Herald.
In the Journal de Center left Hankyoreh, traditionally critical of the lack of repentance in Japan, analyst Jung E-Gil returns to the assertion by Tokyo that he is coming to decide on the use of a possible “counterattack” against North Korea. “How to accept this reality of a Japan designating the Korean peninsula – constitutionally our sovereign territory – as a target of strikes?” In fact, article 3 of the South Korean Constitution establishes the territory of the Republic of Korea (official name of the South) on “the whole of the Korean peninsula and the surrounding islands”.
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