Two ballistic missiles launched by North Korea have landed in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a vast area of sea surrounding the Japanese archipelago, a senior Japanese Defense Ministry official said Thursday.
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“Two ballistic missiles have crashed in the EEZ,” Kimi Onoda, parliamentary secretary to the defense minister, told reporters.
This zone extends up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) between Japanese territorial waters and international waters.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made it clear that these shots did no harm, but strongly condemned them.
Photo: AFP
These “violate United Nations Security Council resolutions and constitute a reckless act that escalates provocations[from Pyongyang, ed.]against the international community,” Mr. Kishida told the press.
Japan has “strongly protested” against North Korea, he added.
North Korea regularly fires missiles in the region, which has been systematically condemned by its neighbors South Korea and Japan, both close to United States allies.
However, it had been several months since North Korean missiles hit the Japanese EEZ.
Two weeks ago, Pyongyang also tried unsuccessfully to launch a “military reconnaissance satellite,” which falsely triggered missile warnings in Seoul and Okinawa (southwest of Japan).
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also arrived in Tokyo on Thursday for talks with his counterparts from Japan, the Philippines and South Korea.