DPRK Denounces Japan Over 'Emergency' Bills

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, May 18, 2003

DPRK Denounces Japan Over 'Emergency' Bills

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday denounced Japan's approval of three bills to bolster its ability to respond to attacks, saying the move is aimed at stepping up the expansion of the country's Self-Defense Forces.

The set of bills, which were passed by the House of Representatives on Saturday in a bid to cope with "emergency", "laid bare Japan's true intention to significantly expand the sphere of the Self-Defense Forces' use of armed forces and launch overseas aggression, a complete switch-over from its former policy of exclusive defense," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a DPRK spokesman as saying in a statement.

Japan's efforts to justify its war move will further strain thesituation on the Korean Peninsula and shows clearly that Japan is moving towards a dangerous phase of reviving militarism, the spokesman said.

Japan's even more undisguised moves for militarization clearly shows it was quite just for the DPRK to "have increased its self-defensive capacity," he added without further elaboration.

Meanwhile, the spokesman warned that Japan will compel the DPRKto take every strong measure to cope with the new situation if it had chosen the DPRK as its principal target.

The approval of the three bills by the House marked a major victory for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, but raised wide concerns over Japan's commitment to the strictly defensive policy.

The passage of the bills would grant the Cabinet and ministriesgreater control over local governments and other strategically important public and private institutions in the event of war.

It would also create guidelines for troops to use privately owned property and allow authorities to punish people who flout emergency laws.

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