Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe targetted North Korea on Monday after projections showed that he had swept to a landslide victory in Sunday’s snap elections, AFP reported.
“As I promised in the election, my imminent task is to firmly deal with North Korea,” the 63-year-old was quoted as saying by public broadcaster NHK. “For that, strong diplomacy is required.”
Media forecasts show that Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition is nearing the two-third “super majority” it had in the Lower House before it was dissolved on September 28. The coalition is on track to win 312 seats, with only a few left to call, the report said.
A “super majority” would allow Abe to pursue his goal of changing the country’s Constitution to strengthen the military, which currently is restricted to only self-defence, reports said.
Abe had decided to call elections a year early to capitalise on rising support as ties with North Korea deteriorate. Abe had announced the unscheduled elections after local surveys suggested that voters approved of his firm line on North Korea, which had fired two ballistic missiles over northern Japan in the span of a month. North Korea had also threatened to sink Japan into the sea and had said, “Japan is no longer needed to exist near us.”
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