Kim Yo Jong warns Japan over Tomahawk test, says North Korea will set up additional military options

August 5 — Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned on Monday that Pyongyang would establish additional military options targeting Japan, following the Japanese navy's first live-fire test of a Tomahawk cruise missile.

Background of the Incident

The missile was launched on July 29 from the Aegis destroyer Chokai in the Pacific Ocean.

Kim Yo Jong's Statement

In a statement published by North Korea's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim said:

"Japan, a war criminal state, is accelerating its transformation into a war state, taking advantage of the acute and variable trend of the present international situation in which global geopolitical conflicts and inter-camp confrontation are getting fiercer."

She cited two key developments as evidence:

• The test-firing of the U.S.-supplied Tomahawk missile by Japan
• Tokyo's participation in a U.S.-led joint military drill in the Philippines in May

According to Kim, these moves prove that Japan's push for preemptive strike capability has entered "the stage of the actual act."

Japan's Military Buildup

Japan's pursuit of long-range strike weapons dates to December 2022, when Tokyo revised three key security documents to adopt what it calls "counterstrike capability." This marked a shift away from its decades-old policy of maintaining a strictly defensive military.

The revision — described at the time as Japan's biggest military buildup since World War II — opened the way for Japan's purchase of 400 Tomahawk missiles from the United States. Deliveries began this year.

Kim's Criticism of Japan

Kim stated that "Japan's moves to formulate the possession of the capability for preemptive attack" were:

"Contrary to international law and its constitution, which disallowed the possession of war potentials, the right to participate in a war and the right to belligerency."

She added:

"The mass possession of different kinds of long-range strike means with an unexpectedness of preemptive attack and a drastic increase in the radius of their operation and their deployment of multi-demesne forward spaces for actual war, including sea, underwater and air, make Japan reorganize its overall armed forces as a formation of preemptive attack and overseas aggression."

Japan's Justification

Japan has said its military buildup is necessitated by what Tokyo calls the "most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II." Ironically, Japan claims its new capabilities are motivated in part by North Korea's own actions.

In its latest defense white paper, Japan's Defense Ministry warned that "North Korea's military activities pose an even more grave and imminent threat to Japan's national security than ever before."

North Korea's Response

Kim accused Tokyo of long posturing as a "peace-loving state" while branding neighboring countries' own defense measures as "threat" and "provocation." She called that posture "a camouflaged tactic to cover up its ambition for a military giant."

While accusing Tokyo of building up its military capabilities to threaten North Korea, Kim also blamed Washington for enabling the test:

"It is not a secret that the U.S. has handed over Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles to Japan, remodeled a warship to be used in its operation, and provided all conditions and environment for its test-fire including the place of launch."

She continued:

"We will never remain a passive onlooker to the military evolution of Japan which may pose a grave threat to the security of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

Warning of Additional Military Options

Kim concluded:

"I make it clear upon authorization that the armed forces of the DPRK and the military leadership will set up additional military options which are obviously due to Japan's transformation of these days."

Kim did not disclose further details about the "additional military options" Pyongyang is planning.