As the world looks to upcoming summits involving Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington with hopes of achieving even slight progress toward denuclearizing North Korea, Japan¡¯s Defense Ministry maintains that it¡¯s still too soon for the nation to consider dropping plans to boost security.
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera pledged during the ministry¡¯s annual symposium on March 19 to continue Tokyo¡¯s campaign of exerting maximum pressure on Pyongyang until the isolated regime takes concrete steps to scrap its nuclear arms and missile programs.
¡°We¡¯re expecting a possible inter-Korean summit and a U.S.-North Korea summit. But at this point I think it¡¯s important that we remain cautious about North Korea,¡± said Onodera, the main organizer of the symposium.
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