In warning to North Korea, Japan says it has right to carry out pre-emptive air strikes on enemy bases

Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi’s comments come against a backdrop of Tokyo seeking to reinterpret Japan’s pacifist constitution to allow more offensive actions

The matter has been forced by a string of recent missile launches by Pyongyang, say analysts who expect more such tests when the Beijing Winter Olympics ends

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F-15J Eagle fighter aircraft belonging to the Japan Air Self-Defence Force at Chitose Air Base in Hokkaido prefecture. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:12pm, 17 Feb 2022

Japan’s defence minister has doubled down on the nation’s right to carry out an air strike against an enemy base if intelligence indicates an attack on Japan is imminent.

The declaration appears to be aimed at North Korea, which has stepped up its ballistic missile tests since the turn of the year, and is likely to stir further debate on Japan’s pacifist constitution.

In a hearing of the Diet’s lower house budget panel on Wednesday, Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said he would not rule out the option of sending fighter aircraft into another state’s airspace to carry out a pre-emptive strike against a military installation. He added, however, that any such attack would be a last resort to protect the nation from inbound missiles.

Kishi’s remarks are significant because Japan has a pacifist constitution.

Just how much leeway Tokyo has to attack a target in a foreign country under the terms of that constitution has become a matter of great debate in Japan in recent years.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is the latest leader to indicate that he hopes to either revise or reinterpret the constitution to give Japan a better chance to defend itself.