Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks with media after meeting with South Korea's Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back at the headquarters of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Yokosuka District, south of Tokyo, Jan. 30. AP-Yonhap
North Korea on Tuesday denounced Japan's latest defense white paper, calling it an attempt to justify the country's military buildup and describing it as legal basis for "the operation of war machine."
Kang Won-chol, an international security analyst, made the claims in an article published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and the Rodong Sinmun, the most widely read newspaper in the North.
Kang said the white paper came out at a time when "Japan has been rushing headlong into militarization, seized with an ambition for reinvasion."
He argued Japan had "groundlessly" described North Korea as a "serious and imminent threat" in the white paper to justify its "reckless" military buildup.
