Japan's vote for Abe could worsen peace prospects with North Korea, China

Increasing military spending in the budget now may lead to future increases and spending on more offensive weapons

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gambled by calling a snap election – and he has won big.

Voters handed Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party a sweeping victory in the Oct. 22 balloting for Japan’s House of Representatives.

The call for the election came in late September after North Korea had just fired another test missile, with its longest delivery system yet. Over the past months, North Korea has tested six missiles, with each test either falling into the Japan Sea or passing over Japan to land in the Pacific. This latest missile flew over Japan’s northernmost island