March 29, 2021

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira on March 28 criticized North Korea's launch of two ballistic missiles three days earlier for "violating, to all appearances, the UN Security Council resolutions".

On the NHK "Sunday Debate" program, Koike insisted that the international community should demand that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons development program and all related activities.

Koike quoted U.S. President Joe Biden as saying, "I am prepared for some form of diplomacy, but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization," and mentioned that South Korea and Russia in their foreign ministers' meeting had expressed hope for an early resumption of the negotiating process among the countries concerned.

Pointing out that Japan concluded the Tokyo-Pyongyang Declaration which calls for a comprehensive resolution to such issues as North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals, North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development, and Japan's past colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula, Koike said, "Based on this Declaration, Japan should make efforts to resolve the issues in a diplomatic manner in collaboration with other countries concerned."

Appearing on the program, Azumi Jun of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said he will keep an eye on what kind of approach President Biden will take to deal with North Korea." Shibayama Masahiko, a Lower House member of the Liberal Democratic Party, said that the launch of missiles "is testing the unity of the Japan-U.S. alliance" and argued for the need to enhance Japan's defense capability in addition to the strengthening of the bond with the United States.