The Daily Populous Sunday December 28th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by scmp.com and submitted by chasing_enigma

One of Henry Kissinger’s final and most sobering predictions before his death was that Japan would eventually pursue nuclear weapons.

In a 2023 interview with The Economist, Kissinger warned that Japan was “heading towards becoming a nuclear power in five years ”.

Chinese nuclear experts estimate that Japan has the political motivation but also the technical capacity to develop nuclear weapons in less than three years, echoing Kissinger’s warning that Japan harbours ambitions to revive its pre-war military stature when the opportunity arises.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi touched upon the red line of Japan’s three non-nuclear principles last month, seeking to create a legal opening.

Last week, a senior official from the Japanese prime minister’s office responsible for advising Takaichi on security policy told Asahi Shimbun that given the increasingly severe security environment around Japan, he believed “Japan should possess nuclear weapons”.

UpbeatAssumption5817 on December 28th, 2025 at 02:59 UTC »

Japan, South Korea, Germany, Canada, could all have one within weeks.

Brazil undoubtedly could have one within months. They aren't really all that hard to make. Especially if it's just a fission gun type bomb.

Multistage thermonuclear weapons AKA hydrogen bonds are a different story.

The gun type design is so easy the United States didn't even bother to test it first before we dropped it on japan. We tested the implosion type device with the trinity test. But the gun type device is so stupid easy you don't even have to test your design

Also Iran could probably have one within a matter of weeks/months as well. They purposely stay where they're at for ambiguity and negotiation.

Khamvom on December 28th, 2025 at 02:16 UTC »

This isn’t exactly “new” news.

Japan and South Korea have had the capability to produce nuclear weapons if they really wanted to for decades. But they don’t have the intent obviously.

This is just PRC saber-rattling.

CompleteCreme7223 on December 28th, 2025 at 02:08 UTC »

Japan obviously could if they wanted to. They have had nuclear plants and the technology to build nukes for decades and long before China did. Of course they could build them if they wanted to.