Japan weighs raising defense spending target to 3.5% of GDP

South Korea has already decided that defense spending should increase to 3.5 percent over ten years - which is also in line with the goals that the United States demands of NATO allies in Europe.

According to Bloomberg news agency sources, Japan is considering 3.5 or 3.0 percent of GDP as a new target, up from this year's levels of around 1.9 percent. Until 2022, Japan had an informal ceiling for defense spending of around 1.0 percent of GDP.

Ten-year Japanese bond yields have been pushed up to their highest levels since 1996 and major Japanese defense companies are rising on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in the shadow of the details of the Takaichi government's defense plans.