Japan wants "options" in the face of new North Korean ballistic capabilities

Until recently, Tokyo relied fully on its anti-missile shield, and in particular on its 8 AEGIS heavy destroyers of the Kongo, Atago and Maya classes, to neutralize the ballistic threat coming from North Korea. But the performance demonstrated in recent months of Pyongyang's technology, whether semi-ballistic trajectory missiles capable of operating under the floor of anti-ballistic systems, or some new systems with hypersonic gliders, have largely undermined these certainties, to the point of leading the Japanese authorities to consider options which until now had not even been imagined. On October 23, at the follow-up to the latest SLBM tactical missile test by Pyongyang, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has publicly stated that now, Tokyo would consider all options to neutralize this threat.

The rest of this article is for subscribers only

The Classic subscriptions provide access to
all articles without advertising, starting at € 1,99.

Newsletter subscription