North Korea fired a missile early on Tuesday that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific waters off the northern region of Hokkaido, South Korea and Japan said, in a sharp escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The last North Korean projectile to fly over Japan was in 2009. The United States, Japan and South Korea considered that launch to have been a ballistic missile test while North Korea said it was a rocket carrying a communications satellite into orbit.
South Korea’s military said the latest missile was launched from the Sunan region near the North Korean capital Pyongyang just before 6 a.m. (2100 GMT Monday) and flew 2,700 km (1,678 miles), reaching the altitude of about 550 km.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the North Korean missile fell into the sea 1,180 km (733 miles) east of the Cape of Erimo on Hokkaido.
“It is an unprecedented, serious and grave threat to our nation,” Suga told a briefing, adding the government had protested the move in the strongest terms.
Suga said the launch was a clear violation of United Nations resolutions and Japan will work closely with the United States, South Korea and other concerned nations on a response, he said.
The Japanese government’s J-Alert warning system advised people in the area to take precautions.
The Pentagon confirmed the missile flew over Japan but did not pose a threat to North America and said it was gathering further information.
The launch marks a sharp escalation in tensions over Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in defiance of U.N. sanctions.
Nuclear-armed North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday, South Korea’s military and the Japanese government said, in a major escalation by Pyongyang amid tensions over its weapons ambitions.
The missile fell into the Pacific Ocean off Hokkaido, the Japanese government said.
No North Korean missile had overflown Japan for years, and the launch came after a strained period on the peninsula following Pyongyang’s testing of two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month that appeared to bring much of the US mainland within reach.
South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that Tuesday’s missile was launched at around 5:57 Seoul time from Sunan, near Pyongyang, and traveled east “and over Japan.”
It traveled around 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) at a maximum altitude of around 550 kilometers, it said, adding South Korea and the US were “closely analyzing for more details.”
“Our military has bolstered deterrence against additional provocations by the North Korean military and is closely monitoring related movements with full military readiness.”
A meeting of the South’s National Security Council was called, the presidential office said.
Tokyo also said the missile overflew its territory, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the government would take “full steps” to ensure the safety of the Japanese people.
The country’s chief government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said the missile posed a “serious, grave security threat” to Japan.
The firing comes days after Pyongyang launched three short-range missiles in what analysts said was seen as a minimal provocation after the start of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian South Korean-US joint military exercise, which the North sees as rehearsals for invasion.
It says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself.
But Tuesday’s flight path represents a significant escalation by Pyongyang.
Japan has in the past vowed to shoot down North Korean missiles or rockets that threaten to hit its territory, and deployed its Patriot missile defense system in response to the Guam threat, reports and officials said, with an Aegis destroyer also stationed in the Sea of Japan.
In 2009, a North Korean rocket passed over Japanese territory without incident, triggering Japan’s immediate denouncement.
At the time North Korea said it was launching a telecommunications satellite, but Washington, Seoul and Tokyo believed Pyongyang was testing an ICBM.
No comments:
Post a Comment