North Korea has stepped up its verbal attacks on Japan, issuing more than a dozen denunciations through state media since early July and hardening its rhetoric in recent days by accusing Tokyo of whipping up a “neo-militarist frenzy” and preparing for a “war of aggression”.
Analysts said the latest broadsides from Kim Jong-un’s regime reflected both renewed confidence in Pyongyang as ties with Moscow deepen, and a desire to frame Asia-Pacific geopolitics as a contest between rival blocs – mirroring the Nato-Warsaw Pact stand-off at the height of the Cold War.
The attacks come amid rising tensions across the region: North Korea is forging deeper security and economic ties with Russia, Beijing is increasingly at odds with Tokyo, and Japan is moving to strengthen its defence posture in response to perceived threats from the other three.
“Both Russia and China have problems in their relationships with Japan at the moment and North Korea is keen to participate in the criticisms of Tokyo,” said Andrei Lankov, a Russian-born professor of history and international relations at Seoul’s Kookmin University.
“It is important for the regime to have an ‘evil enemy’ that they can complain about and Japan meets that need,” he said. “Pyongyang is very keen to side with Russia and China, as it helps to promote the narrative that they are part of a mighty military bloc.”
Such a bloc is unlikely to materialise any time soon, but analysts say that will not stop Pyongyang from launching further provocations to unsettle Tokyo.
On Monday, Pyongyang’s state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) accused Japanese politicians of “harbouring militaristic ambitions” after they paid respects to the nation’s 2.5 million war dead at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which also honours 1,066 men convicted of war crimes.
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