Japan urges pressure on N.Korea:

Asia

Kono

military to seek record defence spending: Japan’s new foreign minister Taro Kono said on Tuesday international pressure against North Korea must be maintained until Pyongyang clearly demonstrates that it will give up its nuclear programme.

Japan’s military is set to ask for record defence spending of 5.26 trillion yen ($48.12 billion) for the year starting April 1, as it upgrades ballistic missile defences against possible North Korean military action, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

Fears about North Korea’s missile and nuclear development have grown in recent weeks as Pyongyang in July launched intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) and said this month it was considering plans to fire missiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.

While the North later said it was holding off firing towards Guam, regional tension remains high.

“Instead of going straight to dialogue, we need to keep on putting pressure on North Korea until the North clearly demonstrates its intention and action for moving toward (denuclearisation),” Kono said in an interview with a group of reporters.

“It’s not the time to discuss (the resumption of) six-party talks,” Kono said.

Six-party talks, which were aimed at denuclearising the Korean peninsula and involved North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, collapsed in 2008 following a rocket launch by the North.

Kono, who replaced Fumio Kishida as foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle this month, stressed the importance of implementing fully the existing UN sanctions on North Korea.

“There appears to be various loopholes (in the sanctions). These loopholes need to be carefully plugged one by one.”

Japan’s Ministry of Defense will request a 2.5 percent hike in defence spending, way above forecasts, according to the a defence paper, which if approved it will be the sixth straight annual increase as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bolsters his nation’s military.

A chunk of the money will be used to purchase the first batch of SM-3 Block