People in Tokyo watch a news report about the missile launch
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Residents in northern Japan were warned to hide indoors or underground after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday.
Japan’s Prime Minister’s office broadcast alerts across television, radio, mobile phones and loudspeakers warning residents in the northern prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata to find shelter.
The Japanese government initially feared North Korea fired a missile over its northern territory but later adjusted its assessment. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the alerts were based on a trajectory analysis that indicated a flyover.
The missile is the latest in a series of North Korean weapon tests in recent months, with fears they will be followed by a nuclear test. It came a day after Pyongyang fired more than 20 missiles, the most it has fired in a single day ever.
Japan’s military said it lost track of one of the North Korean weapons, apparently the missile, after it “disappeared” in skies above waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
There have been no reports of damage or injuries from the regions where the alerts were issued.
Bullet train services in some areas were temporarily suspended following the missile alert before resuming shortly.
North Korean missile activity is a particular concern in Niigata, which is home to seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.
Those reactors are currently offline and Japanese authorities say no abnormalities have been detected.
On Sado island, just off Niigata’s northern coast, fishermen rushed back from sea at the sound of sirens blaring from community speaker systems.
Kishida condemned the North’s launches and said officials were analysing the details of the weapons.
The missile test has been condemned by South Korea and the US, which said it’s willing to take “all necessary measures” to ensure the safety of allies South Korea and Japan.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the North firing a missile from an area near its capital Pyongyang around 7.40 am and then firing two short-range missiles an hour later that flew toward its eastern waters.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the launch was successful.
The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said South Korea will maintain its combined military exercises with the US in response to North Korea’s intensifying testing activity.
One of the more than 20 missiles North Korea shot on Wednesday flew in the direction of a populated South Korean island and landed near the rivals’ tense sea border, triggering air raid sirens and forcing residents on Ulleung island to evacuate.
South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.
Those launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the US and South Korea to “pay the most horrible price in history” in protest of ongoing South Korean-US military drills that it views as a rehearsal for a potential invasion.
North Korea has been ramping up its weapons demonstrations to a record pace this year.
It has fired dozens of missiles, including its first demonstration of intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017, as it exploits the distraction created by Russia’s war in Ukraine and a pause in diplomacy to push forward arms development and dial up pressure on the United States and its Asian allies.
Experts say such tests could possibly bring North Korea a step closer to its goal of building a full-fledged arsenal threatening regional US allies and the American mainland.
