Japan to build military's pre-emptive strike capability

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http://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/japan-build-pre-emptive-strike-capability

Japan’s military, long constrained by the nation’s post-war pacifist constitution, has moved towards gaining freedom to strike enemy targets abroad if an attack is anticipated.

Tokyo is preparing a new basic defence policy framework under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and recommendations for that framework, called for building the capability to attack an enemy’s strategic bases for self-defence purposes.

This would allow Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF) to launch a pre-emptive missile strike at an enemy’s military target when an imminent attack on Japan from that specific site is confirmed, officials for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said.

Specifically, such a step assumes possible missile attacks from North Korea, which has been stepping up its nuclear and missile threats against targets in Japan, South Korea and United States bases in the region.

“We have just gone through a period when people in Japan felt extreme anxiety about national security. We believe we need to rebalance our basic policy,” Mr Yasuhide Nakayama, a lawmaker who heads the LDP’s National Defence Division responsible for the recommendations, said on Thursday.