North Korea Criticizes Japan's Fighter Jet Development News as "True Intentions of a War Criminal Nation Revealed"

Japan Asahi "Development of Next-Generation Fighter Jet by Air Self-Defense Force"

6th generation fighter jet under development to replace Japan Air Self-Defense Force's F-2 fighter jet

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] North Korea criticized Japan for "revealing the true intentions of a war criminal nation" following news that Japan will jointly develop the next-generation fighter jet for its Air Self-Defense Force with the United Kingdom and Italy.

On the 2nd, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published a commentary titled "Overseas Expansion Ambitions Only Hasten Japan's Demise," stating, "Japan is scheming to jointly develop the next-generation fighter jet for its Air Self-Defense Force with the UK and Italy and massively deploy it by 2035," adding, "This is a manifestation of a dangerous re-invasion attempt aimed at realizing overseas expansion ambitions by massively developing and deploying offensive armaments for preemptive strikes."

It continued, "Japan's continuous military buildup activities, such as acquiring aircraft carriers and developing hypersonic missiles, are thoroughly military preparations to realize its overseas expansion ambitions," and pointed out, "It is only a matter of time before a war criminal nation that glorifies past invasions of Korea and Asian countries as liberation wars reveals its true intentions and sounds the drums of re-invasion."

Earlier, Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported on the 18th of last month that the Air Self-Defense Force plans to develop a next-generation fighter jet to succeed the existing F-2 fighter. The next-generation fighter jet airframe will be developed primarily by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the UK defense company BAE Systems, with Italy's aerospace and defense company Leonardo also participating.

North Korea has been wary of the strengthening security cooperation among South Korea, the US, and Japan, and has especially confronted Japan over issues such as the Japanese right-wing's oppression of Korean residents in Japan and the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima.