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Kim Jong Un's leader delivers a speech during a parliament in Pyongyang, North Korea on Sept. 8. North Korea has fired a missile over Japan, Japanese authorities said. |
South Korea's SEOUL - According to its neighbors, North Korea conducted an intermediate-range ballistic missile launch over Japan on Tuesday, stepping up its testing of weaponry intended to attack strategic locations in nearby U.S. allies.
Since firing the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range missile in January, which was capable of reaching the U.S. island of Guam, it has been a while since North Korea has conducted a big missile test. Additionally, it is the first occasion since 2017 that a North Korean missile has traveled over Japan.
According to the Japanese prime minister's office, at least one missile fired from North Korea was thought to have fallen in the Pacific Ocean after flying over Japan.
In the first "J-alert" since 2017, Japanese authorities advised inhabitants in the northeastern areas to seek shelter in neighboring structures. In Japan's Hokkaido and Aomori areas, trains were briefly put on hold until regular operations were restored in response to a government alert that the North Korean missile looked to have landed in the Pacific.
The firing, which came after a recent string of launches by North Korea, is dangerous conduct, and I strongly condemn it, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters. He said that he will call a meeting of the National Security Council to consider the issue.
There have not yet been any early reports of damage following the North's missile launch, according to Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno. After a 22-minute flight, the missile, according to him, made a landing in waters outside the nation's exclusive economic zone.
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Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, center, arrives at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Tuesday. |
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea claimed to have also discovered the launch of what it claimed to be a ballistic missile that was fired from the northern interior region of the North. It said that in close conjunction with the US military, South Korea has strengthened its monitoring posture and maintained readiness.
North Korea, according to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, fired an intermediate-range missile with a 4,000-kilometer range (2,485 miles). It is a range that puts Guam in range of attack.
Yoon said that he convened a National Security Council meeting to address the launch and that the South and the larger international community will respond harshly to the North's "reckless nuclear provocations."
In what was perceived as an apparent reaction to bilateral military exercises between South Korea and the United States and the allies' additional training including Japan last week, the launch represents the sixth round of missile tests by North Korea in the previous 10 days. Such maneuvers are seen as a practice for an invasion by North Korea.
The short-range missiles launched during the previous four launches landed in the seas between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. These missiles have the capacity to strike South Korean sites.
This year, North Korea tested around 40 missiles over 20 distinct launch occasions as Kim Jong Un vowed to increase the size of his nuclear arsenal and refused to resume nuclear negotiations with the United States.
According to some analysts, Kim would eventually try to utilize his expanded arsenal to persuade Washington to recognize his nation as a nuclear state, which he believes is required to secure the easing of international sanctions and other concessions.
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