North Korea strongly condemned Japan's review of its nuclear policy and signaled an intention to check South Korea-U.S.-Japan military cooperation, with security cooperation between Japan and the United States in mind. Analysts point to the possibility that closer China-North Korea ties are linked to China's efforts to check Japan.
North Korea has successively published commentaries through the Korean Central News Agency and internal party newspapers condemning remarks that suggested a review of Japan's nuclear policy. Criticism of Japan's political developments is intensifying, and North Korea is expressing a confrontational stance toward the security environment surrounding Japan.
Kim Yo Jong (金与正), director of the Party's General Affairs Department, objected in a statement issued on the 5th to remarks suggesting the addition of military options in response to changes in Japan. In July, North Korea had already used the expression "the nuclear arming of a war-criminal state" to condemn Japan's nuclear armament.
North Korea was reportedly launching a short-range ballistic missile into waters east of the Korean Peninsula on the 6th, a show of force seen as part of its hard-line stance toward Japan.
Some analyses attribute North Korea's criticism of Japan to a convergence of the strategic interests of China and North Korea, against the backdrop of closer coordination between China and Russia. There is also speculation that China may use North Korea to check South Korea-U.S.-Japan military cooperation.
Professor Park Won-gon (朴元坤) said that North Korea aims to solidify a framework pitting South Korea-U.S.-Japan against North Korea-China-Russia. He said the move could be groundwork for reducing or suspending joint South Korea-U.S.-Japan exercises ahead of future negotiations with the United States.