North Korea has faulted a recent agreement by Japan and the United States on co-producing air-to-air missiles as aggravating regional security risks and another example of Washington's push to militarize Japan.
The state media said on Wednesday that at a time the United States is upgrading its military command in Japan, the two countries' cooperation in munitions production clearly has military and aggressive intentions aimed at countries in the region.
The comments were attributed to an unnamed vice general director of the North's defence ministry and did not name specific countries.
However, the unnamed official referred to the AIM-120 air-to-air missile system that the United States and Japan have agreed to accelerate co-producing during US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's visit to Tokyo on Sunday.
According to the state media, the official said advancing the deployment of such a weapon used by aircraft involved in frequent military drills in the region that already pose a grave security threat adds a “new element of strategic instability to the Asia-Pacific region.
“Certainly, the centre of gravity of the U.S. hegemony-oriented military security strategy is changing and it is a new warning signal for the Asia-Pacific regional society including the countries in Northeast Asia,” the official said.
