FLASHNEWS - North Korea fires missile over Japan

[ARYA]

North Korea fires missile over Japan

Japanese government issues warning to citizens before projectile breaks up and lands in sea

 

 

 

 A test launch of the North Korean Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile last month. Photograph: KCNA/EPA

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Justin McCurry in Tokyo

Monday 28 August 2017 19.54 EDTFirst published on Monday 28 August 2017 17.40 EDT

North Korea has fired a ballistic missile that passed over Japan in the early hours of Tuesday, in a move expected to further raise tensions in the region.

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The missile flew over the northern Japanese main island of Hokkaido before landing in the Pacific, according to Japanese and South Korean officials.

Japan’s J-Alert warning system advised people across a large area of northern Japan to seek shelter. Japan’s self-defence forces did not attempt to shoot down the missile and there were no reports of damage from falling debris.

The public broadcaster NHK said the missile had been launched from a site in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, and passed over a sparsely populated area of Hokkaido just after 6am local time (10pm British summer time). It broke into three parts and landed in the sea about 730 miles (1,180km) east of Hokkaido.

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Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said the missile travelled about 2,700km and reached a maximum height of 550km.

The JCS said it was analysing the launch with the US and also that South Korea’s military has strengthened its monitoring and preparation in case of further actions from North Korea.

The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said his government was trying to establish the details of the launch and was doing “everything possible” to ensure the safety of the Japanese people.

The chief government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said the missile posed an “unprecedented and grave security threat” to Japan.

Abe said Japan would call for a meeting of the UN security council to discuss the launch, while the defence minister, Itsunori Onodera, said he expected Washington to “strongly protest” against Pyongyang’s latest provocation, according to the Kyodo news agency.

There were unconfirmed reports that North Korea may have fired several missiles and it was not immediately clear what type of missile had flown over Japanese territory.

Tuesday’s launch may have been a show of defiance towards military drills involving US and South Korean troops as well as a smaller number of personnel from other countries.

The drills have coincided with a dramatic rise in tensions on the Korean peninsula after North Korea’s test launch of two intercontinental ballistic missiles and its threat to target seas off the coast of the US Pacific territory of Guam.

Seoul and Washington say the drills are an opportunity for the allies to improve their defensive capabilities but Pyongyang routinely denounces them as a dress rehearsal for war against North Korea.

On Monday North Korea said it wanted to take its complaints about the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercises to the UN security council. Pyongyang denounced the annual manoeuvres as “recklessly provocative” at a time of tensions on the Korean peninsula. In a letter to Egypt, which holds the rotating presidency of the UN security council, it called for urgent talks.

 

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 US army soldiers during the annual US South Korea Ulchi-Freedom Guardian military exercises in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea. Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/AP

North Korea’s UN ambassador, Ja Song-nam, said the drills were “provocative and aggressive” when the situation on the peninsula was “like a time bomb”.

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A spokeswoman for the US Department of State countered that the sole purpose of the exercise was to improve the allies’ ability to defend South Korea.

“Our annual joint military exercises are transparent, defence-oriented, and have been carried out regularly and openly under the Combined Forces Command for roughly 40 years,” said Grace Choi of the department’s east Asian and Pacific affairs bureau.

The latest launch came three days after the North fired what was assessed as three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea and a month after its second test flight of an intercontinental ballistic missile that analysts say could theoretically reach the US mainland.

Several towns in Japan have held evacuation drills this year in anticipation of a North Korean attack and there has been a steep rise in sales of individual nuclear shelters.

After North Korea threatened to fire a volley of missiles towards Guam earlier this month, Japan deployed Patriot missile defence systems in areas along the missiles’ anticipated route. Japan also has an Aegis destroyer stationed in the Sea of Japan.

North Korea first fired a missile over Japanese territory in 1998, causing widespread condemnation and attempts by Japan’s government to improve its missile defence systems.

Japan has in the past vowed to shoot down North Korean missiles or rockets that threaten to hit its territory. In 2009 a North Korean rocket passed over Japanese territory without incident, leading to an immediate denunciation by Japan.

At the time North Korea said it was launching a telecommunications satellite but Washington, Seoul and Tokyo believed Pyongyang was testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.