North Korea has stepped up a campaign of rhetoric against Japan’s military buildup and its security ties with the US and Republic of Korea, saying that they threaten regional stability.
The criticism in more than a dozen state media attacks since early July has coincided with a silence over the North’s missile launches, raising questions about Pyongyang’s broader strategic messaging.
North Korean statements have targeted Japan’s acquisition of counter-strike capabilities, testing of a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile, rising defence spending and Tokyo’s annual defence white paper.
The latest broadside came on Friday, when North Korea criticised annual US-Korean Ulchi Freedom Shield military drills and accused US-Korean-Japan military co-operation of evolving into a “nuclear alliance”. Washington and Seoul say the drills are defensive.
Analysts say Japan is only part of the story.
Park Won-gon, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University, said the primary goal is to frame Northeast Asia as a contest between rival camps.
“The biggest objective is to create a US-Korea-Japan versus North Korea-China-Russia framework,” Park said.
The expert said that Pyongyang wants stronger backing from Beijing and Moscow to cement its escape from diplomatic isolation and to bolster arguments that its nuclear arsenal is necessary.
The heightened rhetoric has coincided with unusual silence on North Korea’s recent missile launches, which were condemned by the Republic of Korea, Japan and the US.
Despite conducting ballistic missile tests last week and again this week, state media has yet to report either, departing from its usual pattern of publicising tests within a day.
Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Dongguk University, said North Korea may be avoiding publicity if launches are connected to prospective military exports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said Russia continues to use North Korean missiles against Ukraine and has accused Pyongyang of providing Moscow with missiles, ammunition and a further promise of troops for the war effort.
Analysts say North Korea is seeking to cast the region in terms of competing blocs, with Pyongyang, Beijing and Moscow on one side and Washington, Seoul and Tokyo on the other.
Portraying US-Korea-Japan co-operation as an increasingly threatening military and nuclear alliance helps Pyongyang justify its weapons programmes, bolster Chinese and Russian backing and argue that its nuclear arsenal is a necessary response to a worsening security environment, they say.