A former moderate who recently turned hawk on security issues, he said Japan should also increase preparedness for growing regional threats. He said the security environment has become more severe, and that he would revise Japan’s national security and defense strategy to bolster missile defense capability and naval defense. North Korea’s missile and nuclear development cannot be tolerated, but Japan seeks to normalize diplomatic ties with Pyongyang by resolving the “unfortunate (wartime) past,” and the decades-old issue of Japanese citizens abducted to the North, Kishida said. Kishida repeated that he is ready to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toward making a breakthrough. Kishida said he hopes to close divisions caused by the pandemic that has worsened gaps between the rich and the poor.
