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AFP
Tokyo
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe headed on Sunday for a four-day trip to Europe, hoping to discuss security issues and make progress on trade as regional tensions soar over accelerating North Korean threats.
Japan has been on edge over North Korean launches since a mid-range ballistic missile flew without warning over the northern part of the country and into the western Pacific in 1998.
The pace of the North's missile development has intensified and its projectiles have since last year been landing ever closer to Japan's coast, with three of the four missiles launched earlier this month falling in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) off Akita prefecture.
"I want to exchange opinions openly with G7 leaders," Abe told reporters at a Tokyo airport before his departure.
"We hope to closely cooperate with the EU on issues the international community is facing such as the problems on North Korea and free trade," he said.
