September 30, 2023
Opinion

Book review: Exploring Japan’s response to North Korea’s growing nuclear threat

Tomotaro Inoue delves into rapid increase in Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests and Tokyo’s options to deter them

Japanese journalist Tomotaro Inoue writes with clarity and alarm about Pyongyang’s growing nuclear threat and Tokyo’s potentially troubling response in his latest book “Kim Jong Un’s Nuclear Weapons: North Korea’s Missile Strategy and Japan” (金正恩の核兵器:北朝鮮のミサイル戦略と日本), published by Chikuma Shobo in April this year. 

Inoue, who has worked across Asia as a Kyodo News journalist and editor for nearly 30 years, charts the rapid pace of North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests since Kim Jong Un succeeded his father in 2011, the growing threat to Japan and South Korea, and Japan’s fateful decision to develop capabilities to carry out military strikes.