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TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet on Thursday approved Japan’s biggest annual defense budget in the face of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and a territorial row with China. The Cabinet approved 5.13 trillion yen ($43.6 billion) in defense spending for the fiscal year starting in April, up 1.4 percent from the initial budget for the current fiscal year. It marks the fifth straight annual increase and reflects the hawkish Abe’s […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Japan and South Korea signed a controversial agreement on Wednesday to share defense intelligence on North Korea, despite protests from opposition parties and activists in Seoul. South Korea’s defense ministry said the accord was “necessary” in the face of growing military threats from Pyongyang, which has conducted two nuclear tests and more than 20 missile launches this year. “It is ready to conduct additional nuclear tests and missile launches at […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea lashed out Friday at a new South Korea-Japan intelligence-sharing accord, accusing Seoul of a gross act of betrayal with the “sworn enemy” of the Korean people. The deal to share defence intelligence — largely driven by the growing threat of the North’s nuclear and missile programmes — was reached and provisionally signed in Tokyo on Monday. It was a controversial move in South Korea, where the legacy of […]
SAN DIEGO, United States (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday that America’s alliance with the Philippines was “ironclad,” despite that country’s president vowing a day earlier to end joint military exercises. “As it has been for decades, our alliance with the Philippines is ironclad,” Carter said, addressing troops aboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, docked in San Diego. On Wednesday, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said he would soon end joint military […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia will sharply strengthen security around its South China Sea islands where there have been clashes with Chinese vessels, the defense minister said Wednesday, a day after Beijing’s claims in the sea were declared invalid. In an interview with AFP, Ryamizard Ryacudu said bolstering defenses around Indonesia’s Natuna Islands would involve deploying warships, an F-16 fighter jet, surface-to-air missiles, a radar and drones, as well as constructing new ports and improving […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — South Korea, Japan and the United States held an unprecedented trilateral missile defense exercise on Tuesday, aimed at countering the growing threat from nuclear-armed North Korea which denounced it as a “military provocation.” The drill in waters off Hawaii came less than a week after North Korea flight-tested a powerful new medium-range ballistic missile that leader Kim Jong-Un hailed as a strike threat to US military bases across the Pacific. […]
