Japan has the right to strike a foreign missile base if the country is under imminent threat of attack, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Monday.
Speaking to reporters and referring to the pacifist Constitution, Abe said overseas strikes would fall within the legal parameters of self-defense "if there is no other way to prevent a missile attack on Japan."
Abe, however, appeared to be discussing a theoretical possibility rather than a realistic response to the launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea into the Sea of Japan last week.