SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday, accelerating testing of weaponry aimed to attack important United States allies in the region amid stalled nuclear diplomacy.
The office of the Japanese Prime Minister said that at least one North Korean missile flew over Japan. The missile believed to have landed in the Pacific Ocean.
It said that authorities have warned people in the northeastern to leave nearby buildings. This was said to be the first such warning in five years.
Moreover, after the government said that North Korean missile seemed to have landed in the Pacific, trains in Japan’s Hokkaido and Aomori regions stopped operating for a while. They started operating again later.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff in South Korea also said that they saw a ballistic missile fired towards the North’s eastern waters. It provided no information, such as how far the weapon flew.
The launch is North Korea’s fifth weapons test in the past 10 days. It interpretes as a reaction to military drills between South Korea and the United States. North Korea perceives these drill as an invasion rehearsals.
The missiles launched during the previous four launches were short-range. Also, they landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Source: NBC News
