<span style="color: #222222;">North Korea still poses a serious and imminent threat to Japan. This was stated by Japan today in its first annual defence review since tensions eased on the Korean peninsula. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Japan's 2018 defence white paper also took aim at China's rise as a military power, saying Beijing was sparking strong security concerns in the region and international community, including Japan.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Tokyo insisted that there is no change concerning the threat of North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">In response, Japan is steadily upgrading its capacity to shield the nation from the North's arsenal, including a plan to spend some 4.2 billion dollars over the next three decades on installing and operating US radar systems.</span><br />