Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed Thursday to work with the international community and strengthen Japan's defense capabilities this year in the face of North Korea's nuclear and missile development.
"We will go forth with resolute diplomacy in order to make North Korea change its policies," Abe said at a New Year news conference in Ise, Mie Prefecture, after visiting the Ise Grand Shrine in the city earlier in the day.
Calling the security situation enveloping Japan the most severe in the post-World War II era, Abe said his administration will "strive to strengthen our defenses, not just as an extension of existing (practices) but in the way that is truly necessary to protect the citizens." Last year North Korea launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles and more than 15 other ballistic missiles, including some that flew over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. The North also carried out its most powerful nuclear test to date.