The Ministry of National Defense announced on the 2nd that it has published the 『2020 Defense White Paper』 which details the changes in North Korean military trends over the past two years. [연합뉴스]
– The Japanese government publicly opposed the “2020 Defense White Paper” published by the military in two years.
According to Kyodo News on the 2nd, the Japanese Ministry of Defense called an officer of the Korean Embassy in Japan and protested the contents of the “2020 Defense White Paper” released by the Ministry of National Defense on that day, saying, “It cannot be accepted”.
In the 『2020 Defense White Paper』 released by the Ministry of National Defense on that day, it is evaluated that the level of expression for neighboring countries has changed. It is an analysis that while China was described as friendly, the conflict situation was emphasized for Japan.
In this regard, Ishikawa Takeshi, a press officer at the Ministry of Defense, argued in a press conference that, in the white paper, “Takeshima (Japan’s official name for Dokdo) was described incompatible with Japan’s position.” In addition, he added that “cooperation between Japan-Korea (Korea-Japan) and Japan-US-Korea (Korea-US-Japan), including North Korea’s nuclear missile situation, is important. We will demand appropriate responses from the ROK to prevent cooperation from being compromised.”
Major Japanese media mainly dealt with the relegation of Japan to a’neighbor country’ rather than a’companion’ in the 『2020 Defense White Paper』.
The Sankei Shimbun reported this change and pointed out that there seems to be a side against the deletion of the phrase “promoting defense cooperation in a wide range of fields with Korea” in the “Defense White Paper” released by the Japanese government in July last year. Kyodo News Agency and NNN, a Japanese private broadcasting company, also mentioned changes in expressions about Japan in the white paper.
Reporter Na Unchae [email protected]
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