North Korean leader’s sister accuses Japan of transforming into a ‘war state’

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister accused Japan of a “transformation into a war state” on Wednesday, Euronews writes.

Japan has been gradually moving away from its post-World War II pacifist status, increasing military spending, ramping up defense pacts and deploying missile launchers to its outer islands.

In a statement carried by North Korean state media, Kim Yo Jong, director of the General Affairs Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said Pyongyang’s “leadership will set up additional military options which are obviously due to Japan’s transformation.”

“Japan, a war criminal state, is accelerating its transformation into a war state,” Kim said in a statement published by the Korean Central News Agency.

Kim cited Tokyo’s recent test-firing of Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles and its May participation in US-led drills in the Philippines as evidence of Washington’s support for “dangerous military moves” in the Pacific.

Japan occupied all of Korea before its 1945 surrender in the Second World War, after which the peninsula was divided into separate states.

China has also recently expressed alarm at what it sees as “new militarism” by Japan.