The government is requesting a bigger budget for security as North Korea's nuclear provocations and China's military assertiveness continue to unsettle the region, and the Dhaka terror attack showed ordinary Japanese are also at risk.
The Defense Ministry on Wednesday submitted its fiscal 2017 budget request totaling more than ¥5.1 trillion, up 2.3 percent from the fiscal 2016 budget. The defense budget request has been increasing for the last five years, and this is the third year in a row the amount exceeded ¥5 trillion.
The ministry requested more than ¥100 billion to strengthen the intercept capability of the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missiles to better counter North Korea's enhanced missile capability. The ministry also requested ¥14.7 billion to introduce the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA, which will intercept missiles in outer space.