Japan Is To Arm More Heavily

Japan is planning to accelerate its expansion of the military armaments by assigning its budget of 260 trillion won for the introduction of 4 tanker planes and 2 escort ships, which are 3500 ton class semi-aircraft carriers equipped with patrol helicopters.

The Japanese government announced its `White Paper 2001,` including this `New Mid-Term Project of Defensive Capacity.`

Japanese Defense Ministry particularly emphasized the necessity for the expansion of the military armaments to keep in step with the arms race in the Asian Pacific area.

The White Paper also expressed the expectation of the Japanese Military for the amendment of the constitution, mentioning that the constitution investigation committee has been reviewing the possibility for the implementation of the ``collective defensive rights.``

Regarding the emergency laws in the case if Japan is directly attacked, the Paper mentioned a necessary amendment for the maintenance of the roads and the construction of the headquarters by the Self-Defense Force.

Concerning North Korea, the Paper analyzed that ``North Korea seems to maintain its military power and has strengthened its alert systems and is still continuing the drills for the infiltration operation. It is uncertain whether such behaviors of the North Korean military are for the incessant operations against the South or for the preservation of the military morale. However, close eyes on the North Korean military is necessary.``

In terms of the Rodong missile, whose range covers the whole Japanese area, the Paper definitely described that ``we judge that [the missile] is deployed,`` which is more confident than the description of last year, ``the deployment of the missile is highly probable.`` In addition, the White Paper expressed the Japanese strong concern about the Chinese military power, stating that ``the Chinese military strategy has changed to `the high-tech regional war` from the previous strategy of `the general regional war.` The Chinese goal of the military modernization must be carefully evaluated whether it is exceeding its necessary defense power.``

Shim Kyu-Sun ksshim@donga.com