On Tuesday April 23, Japan announced that it plans to drop the plan to apply ‘maximum’ pressure to North Korea as a new installation to its official foreign policy. This move is a sudden and surprising ‘softening’ from the Japanese government, just as several major powers converge in policy discussions in Pyongyang. Last year tensions with North Korea and its close sibling South Korea were at an all time high, as many of the global powers fought to achieve a diplomatic approach to appeal the situation. This resulted in what’s known as the Diplomatic Blue Book. Upon its release, Japan had stated that it was doing everything in its power to coordinate with allies to apply maximum pressure on the North Korea. However in this years book, this particular part of the Japanese’s foreign policy is absent after Japanese diplomats reportedly took the latest developments surrounding North Korea “comprehensively into account”. chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga has made a statement explaining that events such as the US and North Korean summit which took place in June of last year and February of this one, have been instrumental in the Japanese’s decision to revoke this clause of maximum pressure on the Korean Peninsula. Because North Korea had been launching test nuclear missiles over Japanese territory until 2017, it was not surprising that the Japanese government held one of the harshest political agendas when it came to dealing with the North Korean government and their policies which frequently broke international boundaries. However, president Kim Jong Un has vastly expanded his political circle since the last missile was tested two years ago, and Japan has found the political fight against North Korea not relevant enough to be worth the effort expended over the issue. It is expected that if North Korea continues its recent pattern of diplomacy and relative peace, that it will face little opposition from most international powers including Japan.
