North Korea's nuclear and missile development is an "unprecedentedly serious and imminent threat" and there is no change in Japan's basic recognition about it even after the historic summit meeting in June between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to Japan's defense white paper for 2018.
Regarding the Chinese military's moves, the Defense of Japan 2018, an annual defense report approved at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, said they are a "strong security concern for the region and international community."
To describe Japan's recognition of North Korea's threat, the latest white paper used an expression -- "unprecedentedly serious and imminent threat" -- that was employed by the government after Pyongyang defiantly went ahead with its sixth nuclear test in September last year. The wording in the latest report is stronger than that used in past papers to express the greater graveness of the threat. The white paper for 2016 used the wording "serious and imminent threats" and the paper for 2017 said the threat had entered a "new stage."
As for grounds for using such stronger wording, the latest white paper pointed out that North Korea possesses hundreds of intermediate-range Rodong ballistic missiles with a range covering almost all of Japan and has already deployed them on a war footing as well as that the country made progress in its nuclear and missile development and enhanced its operational capability.
Meanwhile, the white paper positively evaluated the Trump-Kim summit talks in June, saying, "It is highly significant that Chairman [of the Workers' Party of Korea] Kim Jong Un reiterated his intention for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and made a clear promise to do so in a written document."
Regarding North Korea's nuclear development, the white paper pointed out that Pyongyang may have already made miniaturized nuclear warheads to be loaded atop ballistic missiles. However, it said "it is necessary to continue to carefully examine whether North Korea has verified the intercontinental ballistic missile reentry technology."
The white paper also said China is extensively and rapidly strengthening its military. It warns that Beijing's capabilities in electronic warfare and the cyber field "are rapidly making progress." Regarding the Chinese military's activities around Japan, the paper noted that China is unilaterally escalating its actions such as further expanding the areas of activities of its naval vessels and air power, including those around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.
Referring to the National Defense Program Guidelines, basic guidelines for Japan's defense policy, which will be reviewed at the end of the year, the white paper presented the direction of the country's defense, saying, "It is necessary to work on upgrading capabilities in new domains such as cyberspace and outer space in a full-fledged manner."
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