标签： Asia

TOKYO – Japan’s Ministry of Defense has laid out its preliminary 8.9 trillion yen ($55.6 billion) defense budget request for the 2025 fiscal year, outlining a sweeping shift toward integrating cutting-edge uncrewed weapons, artificial intelligence and modern combat tactics into the country’s national defense strategy. The request represents only a minor uptick from the 8.8 trillion yen proposal for the current fiscal year, but the final total is expected to grow substantially later in 2024, after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet signs off on an updated national security and defense framework focused on expanding Japan’s counterstrike capabilities.

This new investment push aligns with a 2022 five-year defense roadmap that committed Japan to doubling its defense outlay to 2% of gross domestic product, a major shift that redefines the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) to take on a more robust offensive posture in response to China’s growing regional influence. Beijing has repeatedly pushed back against this military buildup, labeling it a resurgence of dangerous 20th century Japanese militarism.

In official briefing materials accompanying the budget request, the Defense Ministry emphasized that the core goal of this proposal is to deliver a “transformative overhaul of defense capability” to drastically strengthen deterrence and response capacities, drawing direct lessons from the widespread use of drones in the ongoing war in Ukraine.

### Uncrewed Weapons to Cut Costs, Offset Demographic Decline
A central pillar of the new strategy is the domestic development and mass production of low-cost uncrewed weapons systems. Defense officials argue that these tools will not only reduce operational costs and troop casualties, but also help build a far more cost-effective layered air defense network.
Under the plan, attack drones will operate in coordinated tandem with long-range cruise missiles to amplify the effectiveness of counterstrike operations. The ministry has also requested unspecified funding to develop submarine-launched and underwater-deployed attack drones by the 2027 fiscal year. Beyond combat effectiveness, uncrewed systems are seen as a critical solution to Japan’s growing demographic crisis: a rapidly aging and shrinking population has driven a steady decline in available military personnel, a gap drones can help fill.
Despite these ambitions, defense industry experts note a major barrier to full domestic drone production: Japan’s commercial drone market is currently dominated by Chinese imports, and building a competitive, fully homegrown supply chain will require years of targeted investment and policy support. The proposal also continues Japan’s multi-year effort to fortify its southwestern island chain near disputed regional territories, with additional funding for extended-range missiles and defensive interceptor systems, alongside new research into submarine-launched hypersonic weapons to further boost counterstrike capacity.

### AI Integration to Modernize Command and Control
To match the new generation of weapons technology, the Defense Ministry is rolling out a major overhaul of its command and decision-making infrastructure through the integration of artificial intelligence. The core of this push is a planned next-generation system called the “AI orchestrator,” a unified platform that will integrate multiple independent AI tools to enable autonomous system selection and operational management. The goal is to drastically cut down decision-making time and improve accuracy across core battlefield functions, from situational assessment to target selection.
Officials confirmed Japan is exploring multiple pathways for AI development: it may adapt proven foreign AI technologies (including systems developed by the United States), scale up indigenous AI research, or combine the two approaches to meet JSDF requirements. The ministry also plans to build a purpose-built “Defense Ministry cloud” infrastructure to enable secure transmission of highly sensitive classified data and maintain stable communications during emergencies or large-scale natural disasters. No specific cost estimates for these AI and digital infrastructure projects have been released publicly.

### Government Intervention to Strengthen a Stagnant Domestic Defense Industry
To sustain long-term military modernization, Japanese officials have also identified a critical need to shore up the country’s domestic defense industrial base. For decades, the sector has struggled under multiple constraints: Japan’s post-war constitution limits military activity to self-defense only, creating an uncertain business outlook for arms manufacturers. Poor profit margins, combined with reputational risks associated with producing lethal weapons, have driven dozens of major suppliers to exit the defense sector over the past 50 years.
While recent military expansion has lifted profits at Japan’s largest defense contractors, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and IHI Corp., the broader supply chain remains fragile and at risk of critical component shortages if existing suppliers exit the market.
To address this risk, the Defense Ministry has requested unspecified funding to launch a new public-private production framework: the government will own key defense manufacturing facilities, while contracting out day-to-day operations to private sector firms. This model is designed to guarantee stable production and supply of critical defense equipment. The budget request also includes targeted funding to support private companies’ defense research and development, as well as corporate restructuring to improve production efficiency and competitiveness across the sector.

In a landmark ruling that has sent shockwaves through South Korean political and religious circles, 83-year-old Han Hak-ja, the current leader of the highly controversial Unification Church, has been sentenced to two years behind bars over charges of bribing former South Korean first lady Kim Keon Hee and committing multiple violations of political funding regulations. The Seoul Central District Court delivered the sentence on Monday during a public sentencing hearing that Han attended in person, marking the culmination of a high-profile probe into opaque ties between the religious group and national political elites.

The court found clear evidence that the Unification Church, led by Han, provided Kim Keon Hee — wife of ousted South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol — with luxury gifts valued at a total of 80 million won (equivalent to approximately $57,900 and £42,500): two high-end Chanel handbags and a diamond necklace. This conviction follows an earlier ruling from earlier this year, where Kim Keon Hee herself was sentenced to 20 months in prison after being found guilty of accepting the improper bribes from the religious organization.

Han, who is the widow of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, has maintained a consistent stance of denying all allegations against her throughout the investigation and trial, dismissing the charges as entirely fabricated. A special independent counsel team assembled specifically to investigate this case outlined that the luxury gifts were transferred to Kim between April and July 2022, in exchange for promised business advantages and political favors for the church and its affiliated entities.

Prosecutors emphasized that this investigation marks the first time South Korean law enforcement authorities have formally verified and documented the Unification Church’s deliberate efforts to purchase political influence within the country. As part of the probe, investigators also uncovered $19 million (£14 million) in cash stored inside a personal safe owned by Han, photos of which have been released to the public.

Kim has publicly acknowledged receiving the Chanel handbags, but has claimed that she returned the items before ever using them. When called in for questioning last August, Kim issued a public apology to the South Korean public, stating, “I am truly sorry that a nobody like me has caused concern to the people.”

The Unification Church, officially registered under the name The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, was established in South Korea in the 1950s by Sun Myung Moon, who publicly claimed to be the messiah. The group gained global attention primarily for its large-scale mass wedding ceremonies, where thousands of couples were blessed and married by Han and Moon in massive stadium venues. For decades, critics have labeled the organization as cult-like, with legal representatives of former members alleging that it coerces followers — colloquially referred to by critics as “Moonies,” a term most church members reject as offensive — into making exorbitant monetary donations to the group.

The Unification Church was thrust into the global spotlight in 2022 following the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. The suspect who assassinated Abe publicly blamed the organization for ruining his family’s finances, and held Abe responsible for his alleged public support of the group. The church has long claimed to have extensive political connections across multiple world capitals, including Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington D.C. In 2021, a range of high-profile global political figures sent pre-recorded video messages to congratulate the launch of the church’s new policy think tank; the list included former U.S. President Donald Trump, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Shinzo Abe, and the mayors of South Korea’s two largest cities, Seoul and Busan.

Currently, the group is banned entirely in multiple jurisdictions around the world, including Singapore. Last year, Japanese courts ordered the Unification Church to be formally dissolved in the country, following years of public outcry over predatory fundraising practices.

In a landmark ruling that caps a year of seismic political upheaval in South Korea, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Hak Ja Han, the leader of the Unification Church and widow of the movement’s founder Sun Myung Moon, to two years in prison on multiple corruption charges on Monday.

Court public affairs officials confirmed the verdict against Han, who was taken into custody last year. The charges against her span a web of graft that entangled the country’s former presidential administration: prosecutors allege Han instructed senior Unification Church officials to deliver bribes to Kim Keon Hee, wife of conservative former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and to a prominent pro-Yoon politician when Yoon held the nation’s highest office.

Beyond the bribery scheme, Han faces convictions for two additional serious offenses: embezzlement of millions of dollars in church funds, and ordering the destruction of evidence documenting her gambling activities in the United States.

Han’s conviction is the latest development in a sprawling corruption scandal that has already fundamentally reshaped South Korea’s political landscape. Earlier this year, the same Seoul Central District Court found Kim Keon Hee guilty in January of accepting over $100,000 in luxury gifts from the Unification Church, including a high-end Graff diamond necklace and a Chanel handbag, in exchange for political favors the church sought from the administration. The former first lady was initially handed a 20-month prison sentence, but an appeals court in April upped the sentence to four years after adding additional convictions, including that she accepted a second Chanel handbag from the church and manipulated publicly traded stock prices for personal gain.

The scandal triggered a rapid, dramatic collapse of the Yoon administration. After Yoon attempted to impose martial law amid growing public outcry over the corruption revelations in late 2024, the South Korean National Assembly moved to impeach the president, ultimately removing him from office. The series of convictions this year marks the formal legal conclusion to a political scandal that ended the careers of both South Korea’s former head of state and his wife, while holding the leader of one of the country’s most powerful religious organizations accountable for systemic graft.

A coalition of over 40 leading figures from Britain’s Arab community has issued a high-profile call for the UK government to translate its verbal condemnation of illegal Israeli settlements into tangible, legally binding action that cuts off British economic support for continued settlement expansion.

In an open joint letter addressed to Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, dated August 24, 2026, the signatories argue the UK must now uphold the international legal obligations it has already publicly acknowledged. These obligations, they note, include the core duties of non-recognition of illegal settlements, non-assistance to settlement activity, and formal legal differentiation between the state of Israel and the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.

The letter frames the current global conversation around settlements as having moved far past the debate over whether the settlements themselves are unlawful under international law. Instead, the central question now facing Western governments like the UK is whether the current mix of voluntary industry guidance, limited tariff differentiation, and narrow targeted sanctions is actually sufficient to meet the country’s binding international legal commitments. This includes the clear obligation outlined by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its landmark 2024 advisory opinion to block any trade or investment activity that serves to sustain or expand illegal settlement construction.

Signatories to the letter span multiple sectors of British civil society, including leading voices from Palestinian advocacy groups, legal associations, health worker coalitions, and grassroots solidarity movements. Notable signatories include Adnan Hmidan, chair of the Palestinian Forum in Britain; Sabah Almukhtar, president of the UK’s Arab Lawyers Association; Dr. Omar Abdel-Mannan, head of Health Workers 4 Palestine; and Feda Shahin, secretary general of the Palestine Solidarity Movement, among dozens of other prominent public figures. The letter remains open for additional public signatures from across British society.

Among the concrete policy measures the coalition calls for are legally binding restrictions on all UK economic activity that generates profits for or supports settlement expansion, the extension of existing UK sanctions to cover both individual actors and private companies tied to settlements, mandatory full differentiation between Israel and occupied territories in all UK government procurement processes and public sector engagements, and coordinated action with international allies to prevent bad actors from circumventing restrictions via third-country corporate structures.

The letter emphasizes that the UK already holds full domestic legal authority to implement these measures under the 2018 Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act. It also anchors the demands in prior UK diplomatic commitments: the UK’s 2016 vote in support of a binding UN Security Council resolution that confirmed Israeli settlements have no legal validity, and the ICJ’s July 2024 advisory opinion that ruled Israel’s prolonged presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and ordered an immediate end to all settlement activity.

Beyond economic measures, the coalition is pushing the UK to work with global partners to establish a formal international protection mechanism to shield Palestinian civilians from escalating settler violence. This request draws on a 1994 UN resolution that the UK itself co-sponsored, which laid the groundwork for international protection for Palestinian communities. The proposed mechanism would include independent third-party monitoring of violence, systematic documentation of displacement and abuses, and targeted protection support for communities at highest risk of attack.

The letter explicitly clarifies that these demands do not amount to a call for hostility toward the state of Israel or ordinary Israeli citizens, nor do they seek indiscriminate restrictions on fully legal trade with Israel within Israel’s 1948 borders. Instead, the signatories argue that Britain’s long-stated commitment to upholding international rule of law cannot only be expressed through rhetorical statements of principle—it must be demonstrated through consistent, effective policy implementation.

The call comes as the UK government has already signaled it is preparing new action over Israel’s controversial E1 settlement plan, a proposed expansion east of Jerusalem that would cut the occupied West Bank into two disconnected parts and effectively eliminate the territorial contiguity required for a viable Palestinian state under a two-state solution. Earlier this month, Foreign Secretary Miliband publicly condemned the E1 plan, warning it poses an existential threat to the two-state solution and confirming he had formally called on Israel to halt all settlement expansion. Miliband also noted that the UK would lay out a broader package of new measures in the coming weeks, leaving space for the government to adopt some of the changes the British-Arab coalition is calling for.