opinion

Japan, a war criminal state, is stepping up the battle formation to launch a war for reinvasion.

On March 24, it officially inaugurated an "integrated operation command" comprehensively commanding the Ground, Maritime and Air "Self-Defense Forces" for the practical use of long-range missiles.

Prior to this, it was disclosed that Japan is going to deploy US-made intermediate-range missiles for action in the archipelago and home-made missiles with a range of about 1 000 km in Kyushu.

The reality proves that the Japanese militarists' overseas aggression is no longer imagination or speculation but a fait accompli, and it is as clear as noonday that the DPRK will be the first target of their attack.

Japan, a defeated nation gnashing its teeth with revenge, has concentrated all efforts on the scheme to turn itself into a war state capable of invading other countries again anytime over the past 80 years.

Such preparations are now accelerated at the final stage.

Japan created environment and conditions for joining a war anytime by forming an Asian version of NATO based on the US-Japan-ROK military alliance system in the Northeast Asian region, zealously pursuant to the US aggression moves for hegemony, and by establishing its independent full-time mission at NATO in January this year. And it is putting spurs to the revision of the constitution to turn itself into a "state capable of fighting a war" at an early date.

Japan's arms buildup is also at a serious stage.

It was announced that the amount of weapons purchased by Japan from abroad in recent years has nearly doubled as compared with the past, 97 percent of them imported from the US. Such survey data drew the attention of the international community.

This year alone, Japan is going to purchase a large quantity of various kinds of strike means, including intermediate-range air-to-air missile and air-to-ground long-range cruise missile, from the US, while getting more frantic than ever before to further increase the range of missiles it has already developed and possessed.

Amid the successive commissioning of various kinds of warships to stand in the van of overseas aggression, a project for moving the commands of the SDF underground was launched and the purchase of large transport planes is being stepped up to ensure the rapid transfer of armed forces to the continent. Shortly ago, Japan inaugurated even a maritime transport force of the SDF.

Japan's moves for getting familiar with war of aggression are going beyond the precedent.

In January, it staged the largest-ever airborne landing drill aimed at a sudden preemptive attack by inviting troops of 11 countries such as the US and Britain to the archipelago and conducted the US-Japan-ROK joint air drill in the sky near the Korean peninsula. In February, it dispatched even a virtual aircraft carrier to the waters out of its territory to frantically stage a drill for overseas aggression with the US and other war forces across the ocean.

In March, Japan also conducted sabre-rattling with riff-raff in the waters around it. Not content with this, it took part in the US-Japan-ROK naval drill recently conducted in the waters near Jeju Island, openly flying the "flag of rising sun".

It is clear what it means to step up the deployment of long-range strike means for action and establish a command system for their use in an actual war in such environment in which Japan is driving the situation to the extreme.

Japan has accelerated its institutional and military preparations for the invasion of the continent at the final stage and created an international climate for them. It is now advancing into a line of fire to invade the continent.

It is a matter of time for Japan to fire the first gun for reinvasion.

The Japanese militarists, the sworn enemy of the Korean people, should clearly know that the line of fire Japan is daring to approach will be turned into its bottomless grave.