Why Takaichi’s Japan election victory has sparked North Korea’s ‘childish’ fury

North Korea has accused Japan of resurrecting its wartime ambitions by expanding its defence and pursuing security alliances

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Military personnel hold national flags of Japan and the US during a Japan Ground Self-Defence Force training at Camp Narashino, near Tokyo, on January 11. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:00am, 13 Feb 2026Updated: 5:53pm, 13 Feb 2026

North Korea’s claim that Japan has crossed a diplomatic “red line” by deepening its security partnerships is less about Tokyo’s defence policies than Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s decisive election victory, analysts say, as a weaker mandate may have pushed her towards negotiations with Pyongyang.

With a commanding majority secured in Sunday’s poll, Takaichi now faces fewer domestic constraints as she signals plans to expand defence cooperation with Western partners and potentially push ahead with revising Japan’s pacifist constitution.

Pyongyang has responded with unusually sharp rhetoric. In commentary on Wednesday headlined “Plotting to expand military alliances aimed at perfecting war capabilities”, the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper argued that Japan, as a former wartime aggressor, was barred from possessing its own military or forming security alliances.

The article also revived a familiar accusation that Japan was seeking to resurrect its colonial empire on mainland Asia, accusing Tokyo of “creating an environment favourable to realising its ambitions of overseas invasion by strengthening military collusion with global powers”.

Plaintiffs, their lawyers and supporters gather outside the Tokyo District Court after it ordered North Korea to pay damages for luring Japanese to the North with false promises on January 26. Photo: AP

Further underlining Pyongyang’s hostility towards Takaichi’s conservative administration, another state-run outlet published a feature on Tuesday accusing Japanese invaders of committing atrocities in the Imjin War of 1592. The Korea Central News Agency described “brigandish” Japanese carrying out “unethical crimes … so hideous that they can never be pardoned”.

Why Takaichi’s Japan election victory has sparked North Korea’s ‘childish’ fury

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}North Korea has accused Japan of resurrecting its wartime ambitions by expanding its defence and pursuing security alliances

North Korea has accused Japan of resurrecting its wartime ambitions by expanding its defence and pursuing security alliances