NK News:

The cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has approved a record defense budget of $47.2 billion (5.4 trillion yen) for fiscal year 2022, earmarking more than a billion dollars to buttress missile defense capabilities, in particular against threats from North Korea.

The draft budget for the fiscal year starting in April is expected to pass the country’s bicameral legislature in the coming months. The government has framed the fiscal year 2022 defense budget, along with defense outlays in a supplemental budget for fiscal year 2021, as “defense strengthening acceleration” packages.

Tokyo is now set to spend about $53.6 billion (6.17 trillion yen) on defense over the next 16 months, reflecting the government’s intention to counter the DPRK’s nuclear and missiles threats, as well as bolster the country’s self-defense forces to defend remote islands in the East China Sea in response to increased Chinese activity in the area…

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