North Korea has called Japan a "war criminal state" because of alleged attempts to obtain nuclear weapons, criticizing the country's self-styling as a "nuclear victim" during a recent commemoration of the 1945 atomic bombing.
An article appeared in North Korea's state-run news agency, KCNA, on Wednesday claiming that provocative military action by Japan had raised suspicions about the "war criminal state."
The article focused on comments made by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on August 6, during the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, which is held annually on the anniversary of the city's 1945 bombing by the U.S.
According to the Prime Minister's Office of Japan, around 50,000 people were in attendance, including "atomic bomb survivors and bereaved family members, as well as representatives of 109 nations."
"As the only country to have experienced the horror of nuclear devastation in war, Japan has the mission of firmly upholding the 'Three Non-Nuclear Principles' and steadily building up efforts over time towards the realization of a world without nuclear weapons while conveying the realities of the atomic bombings to future generations," Kishida said during the ceremony.
The "Non-Nuclear Principles" are a set of non-legislative tenets that have guided Japanese nuclear policy since the 1960s, and which outline the country's commitment to "not possessing, not producing and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons," according to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
However, KCNA has called the principles, and their recent reiteration by Kishida, a "deceptive artifice to cover up its nuclear ambition."
KCNA said that this was evidenced by the fact that a "top secret nuclear document signed by the U.S. and Japan in 1969" was found at the house of former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato.
Newsweek contacted Japan's London embassy for comment on KCNA's article.
KCNA is likely referencing a document, signed between the Japanese leader and then-U.S. President Richard Nixon, which laid out plans to transport American nuclear weapons to the Okinawa Prefecture in the 1970s.
KCNA went on to allege that Japan has "persistently pursued access to nuclear weapons" since this time, citing its rumored attempts to enter into the Australia-United Kingdom-U.S. (AUKUS) trilateral security partnership as evidence.
The pact, announced in September 2021, aims is to enhance defense and security cooperation among the three nations, with an emphasis on the Indo-Pacific region.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense in April, the three members are "considering cooperation with Japan on advanced capabilities projects," though this has so far stopped shy of full accession.
KCNA also criticized the trilateral military exercises conducted by the U.S., Japan and South Korea, which were agreed by the three states at a summit at the Camp David in August 2023.
The first of these exercises – entitled "Freedom Edge" – took place in late June, involving naval and air forces from all three countries, and drawing fierce criticism from Pyongyang, which warned of "fatal consequences" in response to the drills.
"The Japanese reactionaries are conducting various military exercises including Freedom Edge," KCNA wrote on Wednesday. "Such military moves make it possible to know where the ultimate goal of the country's nuclear ambition lies."
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