North Korea warned Sunday that Japan’s alleged ambition to acquire nuclear weapons must be “prevented at any cost,” according to a statement carried by state-run KCNA, following comments attributed to an official at Japan’s prime minister’s office.
The statement, reported by KCNA via international coverage, came after Kyodo News reported that a Japanese government official said Tokyo should “possess nuclear weapons.” Newsweek reached out to Japan’s Prime Minister’s Office for comment.
Why It Matters
The exchange underscores rising tensions in Northeast Asia as regional security debates intensify around nuclear deterrence and U.S. alliance structures. Japan remains bound by its postwar non-nuclear principles, but public discussion of nuclear weapons has drawn scrutiny from neighboring states.
North Korea’s warning also highlights the contrast between Pyongyang’s condemnation of nuclear ambitions elsewhere and its own continued expansion of nuclear capabilities, which have prompted international sanctions and repeated calls for denuclearization.
What To Know
North Korea’s foreign ministry said Japan’s alleged nuclear ambitions would bring “a great disaster,” according to a statement by the director of the Institute for Japan Studies under the ministry, carried by state-run KCNA. The official said Japan was openly revealing intentions to pursue nuclear weapons by discussing revisions to its non-nuclear principles.
The warning followed a report by Kyodo News citing an unnamed official at Japan’s prime minister’s office as saying, “I think we should possess nuclear weapons.” Japanese authorities have not publicly confirmed or endorsed that statement.
Pyongyang also linked the remarks to broader regional developments, alleging that such discussions emerged after the United States approved South Korea’s request to build a nuclear-powered submarine in October, a move Washington has said complies with non-proliferation commitments.
North Korea did not address its own nuclear weapons program in the statement. The country is widely believed to possess a growing arsenal of nuclear warheads and has repeatedly rejected international demands to abandon them.
Explicit caveat: The KCNA statement reflects the position of North Korea’s government. Japan has not announced any policy shift toward acquiring nuclear weapons, and the remarks attributed to a Japanese official have not been independently verified beyond Kyodo’s reporting.
What People Are Saying
A North Korean foreign ministry official, in a statement carried by KCNA, said Japan’s nuclear ambitions must be “prevented at any cost” and warned that such a move would bring “a great disaster.”
Japan’s Kyodo News quoted an official at the prime minister’s office as saying: “I think we should possess nuclear weapons,” according to the same report.
North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong told the United Nations in September that Pyongyang would “never give up nuclear [weapons], which is our state law, national policy and sovereign power,” according to Reuters’ report on his UN address.
What Happens Next
Japan’s government has not formally responded to Pyongyang’s warning or clarified the reported remarks. Regional attention is expected to focus on official statements from Tokyo and Washington as security discussions continue across Northeast Asia.
