North Korea warned that Japan's recent move to release a plan to deploy a new long-range missile launcher to Kumamoto prefecture would "surely bring about the 'sinking' of the archipelago if it keeps fooling around unbecomingly."
Korean Central News Agency said on the 13th in a commentary titled "The region's security environment is becoming harsher due to Japanese militarism" that "it will get dragged into something bad that crosses a 'red line,'" and stated accordingly.
The agency added that Japan, after bringing in and deploying an upgraded model of the Type 12 surface-to-ship guided missile with a range of 1,000 kilometers at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Kengun garrison in Kumamoto prefecture, is planning to additionally deploy long-range missiles in Shizuoka and Miyazaki prefectures.
The agency said, "If this plan becomes reality, Japan will be deploying missiles that keep neighboring countries within range throughout the entire archipelago," adding, "It can only be described as a highly dangerous military scheme." It went on, "It is thoroughly part of completing war preparations for a renewed invasion," and claimed, "The fact that Japan is feverishly developing and purchasing long-range strike means while hastening their combat deployment shows that the time of their use is drawing closer to reality."
It added, "The impact points of long-range strike means are neighboring countries, including us, whom Japan has designated as a 'pressing threat' and 'the greatest and unprecedented strategic challenge,'" and "The situation has become even harsher due to the revival of militarism in a war-criminal state, which is going mad with a renewed-invasion ambition without even a speck of guilt over the past crimes of bygone days."