North Korea Calls Faster Nuclear Buildup “Immutable” as Japan Weighs Up to ¥80 Trillion for Defense

The North Korean flag seen from the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom (file photo). Photo: Clay Gilliland, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

North Korea said Monday that strengthening its nuclear forces at an ever faster pace is an “immutable” national defense policy, calling a recent South Korea-U.S. tabletop exercise “the most hideous nuclear war rehearsal aimed at using nuclear weapons against the DPRK,” Yonhap News Agency reported. The statement, by Kim Jong-sik, first vice department director of the Workers’ Party Central Committee, was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency !Unverified claim, KCNA (North Korean state media). The exercise, Iron Mace, was held at the Joint Chiefs of Staff headquarters in Seoul from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 and integrates South Korea’s conventional forces with U.S. nuclear capabilities. “Strength is peace and peace is guaranteed only by strength,” Kim said.

Key figures: ¥70-80T japan’s possible five-year defense budget from april 2027 · 19 chinese military aircraft sorties around taiwan · 519 south korea’s recognized post-war abductees

The statement follows North Korea’s report of a cluster-bomb warhead test, covered in our Nov. 1 story on the warhead test.

Japan weighs a much larger defense plan

Japan is considering setting defense buildup spending for the five years starting April 2027 at ¥70 trillion to ¥80 trillion ($457 billion to $508 billion), about 1.8 times the roughly ¥43 trillion in the current plan that began in fiscal 2023, The Japan Times reported, citing sources. The figure could change as the government compiles its budget and revises three security documents. One source said the money is expected to fund purchases such as large numbers of drones and that a weaker yen has raised procurement costs. Japan’s Defense Ministry said it had no comment.

Pressure around Taiwan

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense detected 19 sorties by Chinese military aircraft, seven navy ships and six official ships around Taiwan in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. Monday, and four of the aircraft entered Taiwan’s southwestern and eastern air defense identification zone, the ministry said. That followed 32 sorties a day earlier, as we reported Sunday.

Taiwan is also tightening military service exemption rules in a change expected to cut the exemption rate among conscription-age men from about 16% to 8%, the South China Morning Post reported. Under the new standards, which took effect last week, men will generally be exempt on weight grounds only if their body mass index exceeds 45.

China, meanwhile, has six new Type 071 amphibious transport docks at various stages of construction or fitting-out, four at Hudong-Zhonghua’s Changxing Island yard in Shanghai and two at the Longxue shipyard in Guangzhou, the Post reported, citing Janes Fighting Ships. Two of the Shanghai ships were launched in August and October but have yet to enter service.

South Korea’s defense moves

President Lee Jae Myung pledged to secure key military capabilities needed for the early transfer of wartime operational control from the United States, Yonhap reported. Seoul’s Defense Ministry launched a Defense Drone Agency in Pocheon, about 40 kilometers north of Seoul, to replace the existing Drone Operations Command as a “drone control tower” for all services, according to Yonhap. South Korea is also seeking a comprehensive agreement with the United States by year-end on relocating jointly used air bases, including the one in Gwangju, Yonhap reported, and its Air Force is joining a U.S. Space Force war game for the first time, covered in today’s space war report.

South Korea’s military said it had not detected North Korea operating loudspeakers toward the South, despite Pyongyang’s statement that they would be switched on by the end of October, The Korea Herald reported. Seoul also officially recognized three fishermen abducted by North Korea in 1973 from the boat Daeyeong near Yeonpyeong Island, raising the number of government-recognized post-war abductees to 519, according to Yonhap.

Diplomacy in the region

South Korea’s first vice foreign minister, Park Yoon-joo, met Japanese counterpart Takehiro Funakoshi in Karuizawa for the 17th bilateral strategic dialogue, with preparations for the next summit between Lee and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expected on the agenda, Yonhap reported. After Friday’s U.S.-Japan-South Korea foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, the U.S. State Department raised concerns about what it described as China’s “coercive behavior” in the Yellow Sea, while Seoul avoided naming Beijing in its own account, The Korea Herald reported. “South Korea, by contrast, has little intention of actively joining efforts to contain China,” Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University, told the newspaper. The trilateral meeting is covered in our report on the three-way talks.

In the defense trade, Korea Aerospace Industries delivered the first two FA-50 light combat aircraft to Malaysia under a 2023 contract for 18 jets, The Korea Herald reported.

By the numbers

Japan’s current five-year buildup, drawn up at the end of 2022, raised planned defense spending from an initial allocation of ¥27.5 trillion to about ¥43 trillion, according to The Japan Times. The plan under consideration would set the next five years at ¥70 trillion to ¥80 trillion, and one source said the final figure could land in the mid-to-late ¥70 trillion range. More regional coverage is on our Asia-Pacific news page.

Watch for Japan’s final budget figure and revised security documents, any North Korean loudspeaker broadcasts or weapons tests, and the next Chinese activity report around Taiwan.

Sources

• Yonhap News Agency: N. Korea denounces S Korea-U.S. joint military drills, vows to bolster nuclear deterrent
• The Japan Times: Japan weighs $500 billion defense spending plan, sources say
• Taiwan Ministry of National Defense: PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan
• South China Morning Post: Raising the bar: Taiwan alters draft rules to add thousands to armed forces
• South China Morning Post: Beijing doubles down on Type 071 amphibious warships, signalling a Taiwan focus
• Yonhap News Agency: (LEAD) DP welcomes Lee's budget speech; PPP slams failure to address N. Korea, economic woes
• Yonhap News Agency: Defense ministry launches new drone agency to bolster unmanned capabilities amid N.K. threats
• Yonhap News Agency: S. Korea seeks to finalize agreement with U.S. on joint air base relocations by year-end
• The Korea Herald: N. Korean loudspeakers silent despite October warning
• Yonhap News Agency: S. Korea officially recognizes 3 fishing crewmen abducted by N. Korea in 1973
• Yonhap News Agency: (LEAD) S. Korea, Japan to hold vice foreign ministerial talks on N. Korea, bilateral issues
• The Korea Herald: US criticism of China in Yellow Sea exposes strategic divide with Seoul: expert
• The Korea Herald: KAI delivers first 2 FA-50 fighter jets to Malaysia

Additional sources

• U.S. State Department: U.S.-Japan-ROK Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting
• Yonhap: Lee pledges to acquire key military assets for early retaking of OPCON