South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has said that Seoul and Washington are discussing joint exercises involving US nuclear assets in order to counter North Korea’s growing atomic and missile programmes.
“The nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises and training should be jointly conducted by South Korea and the United States,” Yoon said, adding Washington is also “quite positive” about the idea.
Yoon’s remarks come a day after North Korean state media reported that its leader Kim Jong Un called for developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and an
“exponential increase” of the country’s nuclear arsenal to counter what he termed as hostility from the US and South Korea.
On Sunday, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile off its east coat in a rare late-night New Year’s Day weapons test, following
three ballistic missiles launched the previous day, capping a year marked by a record number of missile tests.
“This year could be a year of crisis with military tension on the Korean peninsula going beyond what it was like in 2017,” said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, referring to the days of the “fire and fury” under the administration of former US President Donald Trump. “North Korea’s hardline stance … and aggressive weapons development when met with South Korea-US joint exercises and proportional response could raise the tension in a flash, and we cannot rule out what’s similar to a regional conflict when the two sides have a misunderstanding of the situation,” Hong said.
@AlJazeera.com
Another sign of increasing tension is a statement from 'U.S. Indo-Pacific Command...[a] Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy J-11 flew in front of and within 6 meters (20 feet) of the nose of an RC-135, a type of large reconnaissance plane operated by the U.S. Air Force.'
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin offered no details, but accused the U.S. of posing “serious threats to China’s national security,” with its surveillance operations.
Wang also renewed Beijing’s objections to
U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing threatens to bring under its control by force if necessary. Washington this week approved the sale of a
$180 million anti-tank system to Taiwan as the threat from China’s military rises.
APnews.com
In the face of all this increased tension: On December 23, the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio approved 6.82 trillion yen ($51.4 billion) in defense spending in fiscal year 2023, starting in April, amid what it calls “the most severe and complex security environment since World War II.”
The increased defense spending will allow Tokyo to
acquire counterstrike capabilities. The Ministry of Defense (MoD) secured 828.3 billion yen for ammunition-related spending, 3.3 times higher than the current fiscal year. It included 211.3 billion yen to procure 500 U.S.-made long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles. The MoD said it will deploy the Tomahawks in fiscal year 2026-27 as Japan aims to develop counterstrike capabilities. Tokyo will reportedly acquire the latest model Tomahawk Block V to be equipped onto Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Aegis-equipped destroyers.
TheDiplomat.com
