TOKYO (Reuters) – The Japanese pacifist took a step closer to acquiring weapons capable of attacking North Korea on Friday after a ruling party committee approved proposals to consider acquiring strike capacity to stop missile attacks. ballistic.
Giving long-range ammunition to Japan’s Self-Defense Forces is controversial for a country that renounced the right to wage war after its defeat in World War II. The proposal is also likely to enrage China and Russia, which could be within the scope of any new attack weapon.
“Our country needs to consider ways to strengthen deterrence, including the ability to stop ballistic missile attacks within the territory of our adversaries,” the proposal document said.
The proposals, drawn up by senior lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party, including former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, will be presented to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe early next week.
The proposals are “to stay within the limits of the constitution and comply with international law, which has not changed,” Onodera said in a briefing.
The recommendations will be discussed by the Japan National Security Council, which is expected to finalize the new defense policies by the end of September.
Abe has lobbied for a more muscular army, arguing that Japan needs to respond to a deteriorating security environment in East Asia as North Korea builds missiles and nuclear weapons, China builds a modern and powerful army, and Russian forces rejoin. to the region.
An attack option is attractive because it is much easier to hit missiles on launching pads than warheads that travel at multiple times the speed of sound. However, finding mobile launchers to hit requires close surveillance with satellites that Japan does not currently own, which means it would have to rely on help from the United States’ allies.
Japan’s defense ministry may decide to buy equipment by the end of the year, government officials told Reuters.
“We will examine the PLD’s recommendations and consider them thoroughly,” Defense Minister Taro Kono said at a regular press conference.
AEGIS
The ruling party’s deliberations were spurred by Kono’s decision in June to cancel two planned Aegis Ashore sites designed to track and target incoming ballistic missiles from North Korea, citing a risk to nearby residents from falling booster rockets and increasing costs.
The LDP document included a recommendation that Japan consider how to acquire a defense radar system on par with Lockheed Martin’s Aegis Ashore system that could also track other threats such as drones and cruise missiles.
Among the proposals being considered by officials is to locate the Aegis ashore elsewhere on land, or to put the powerful new radar on ships. US defense company Raytheon has been pressuring LDP lawmakers with a proposal to choose its SPY-6 radar instead of using the Lockheed system, sources told Reuters earlier.
“The government will make a decision on this in late September and our thinking will be reflected in that,” Onodera said.
North Korea, which has tested missiles on Japanese soil, has had stalled talks with the United States to eliminate its nuclear arsenal. It has rejected unilateral disarmament and has given no indication that it is willing to go beyond statements of broad support for the concept of universal denuclearization.
Report by Tim Kelly; Chang-Ran Kim, Lincoln Feast and Nick Macfie edition
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