Japan to assess defence capabilities as it expands harsh sanctions on North Korea, freezing assets on 19 more firms
The actions follow the most recent of Pyongyang’s test missile launches on November 29
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan will analyse the defence capability it needs to protect its citizens in the face of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
“We would like to decide what defence capability we should truly have in order to protect our people, rather than simply expanding the traditional one,” Abe said in Tokyo.
The prime minister said the government will start accelerating debates early next year on a review to Japan’s defence programme guidelines, which were approved in 2013. He added that Japan is ready to put more pressure on North Korea to stop its provocations.
His speech came as the Japanese government decided on Friday to freeze the assets of 19 more North Korean companies as part of its unilateral sanctions in response to the North’s repeated defiance of a UN ban on nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
The 19 firms deal in financial services, trade in coal and oil, shipping and the dispatch of workers overseas, according to the Foreign Ministry.
After a roughly two-month hiatus in launches, North Korea fired a missile on November 29 that it said was a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting any target on the US mainland.