Ju-min Park and Soo-hyang Choi

SEOUL (Reuters). Tokyo will welcome South Korea’s new conservative president’s harsher stance toward the North, as Japan seeks out ways to increase its military capability amid increasing tensions in the region.

This week, South Korea and the United States fired missiles in a joint air show and reacted to North Korea’s barrage with short-range ballistic rockets.

Yoon Seok-yel was responding to the threat of North Korean military provocations and offered dialogue for the second time.

Kim Dong-yub, Kyungnam University’s Seoul said that the escalation in tensions on the Korean Peninsula and North Korea’s actions as well as Japan’s response must have put a smile on Japan’s faces.

Kim, an ex-South Korean Navy officer, stated that signs indicate North Korea may be preparing for another nuclear attack and that Japan will resume joint South Korea/U.S. military drills to help it justify becoming a normal military country.

Japan has maintained a policy of keeping defense spending below 1% in gross domestic products for many decades. It is this that counters concerns over a revival of militarism, which was what led to World War Two.

Fumio Kishhida, the Japanese prime minister, stressed Tokyo’s willingness to adopt a stronger defense posture during President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Tokyo. This is something Washington long supported to combat an assertive, militarily powerful China.

Japan declared this week it would like to see a drastic increase in defense spending over the next five-years.

“The Yoon government’s stronger response to North Korean provocations will find support in Japan, not only as an effort to deter the Kim regime, but also as part of defending a regional order already under stress from China,” said Leif-Eric Easley, an international studies professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

In an update to Japan’s national security strategy due by year end, Kishida’s administration is expected to commit Japan to acquiring missiles and other equipment to allow it to strike enemy bases, a capability critics say puts Japan beyond the bounds of a pacifist constitution that forbids it to wage war.

“CHERRY ON TOP”

As Japan and South Korea seek to reestablish relations after decades of tensions resulting from the wartime past and Japan’s colonisation on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul has made a shift in its posture.

Yoon said that he would like to get to know Kishida as soon as possible and help him improve relations.

Kanagawa University’s Corey Wallace is a Japanese security and politics expert. He said that while Japan has a stronger defense policy, it was gaining public support. However, it would be a benefit to have better relations with Seoul.

The Ukraine crisis has strengthened public support for defense spending, in a way that China’s threat never could. Wallace stated that Tokyo has a window of opportunity and is ready to open a door previously closed.

“Improving relations with Seoul is the cherry on top.”

A poll conducted by Nippon Television Network (Yomiuri Newspaper) on June 5, found that 72% Japanese favor stronger military defense. More than half of respondents also wanted Japan to increase its defence spending. Recent surveys also indicated that most expect improved relations with South Korea, under Yoon.

Experts believe that Japan can also benefit from a more united defense position between South Korea, the United States, and North Korea in order to keep China under control.

Wallace explained that Japan could, theoretically, spend more on its military and increase its spending in order to counter China.

To give Japan this level of comfort, it would take years of positive relations between Seoul-Tokyo.”