Sirens wailed in several Japanese provinces on Tuesday morning, including Tokyo. For the first time since August 2017, North Korea fired a ballistic missile that flew over northern Japan, triggering the J-Alert warning system. The alert was lifted about twenty minutes later when the missile crashed into the Pacific Ocean east of the archipelago.
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According to South Korean security services, the missile was launched at 7:22 a.m. and crashed at 7:44 a.m., for a 4,500 km flight that lasted 22 minutes, culminating at nearly 1,000 km altitude. Characteristics close to the capabilities of the Hwasong-12 medium-range ballistic missile.
23rd shot of the year
Especially in the province of Hokkaido, sirens wailed and asked residents to seek shelter in a basement if possible. According to the prime minister’s office, the rocket did indeed fly over the Tohoku region north of Honshu, the archipelago’s main island. The warning caused Shinkansen (bullet train) service to stop in the area.
“This is an act of violence that follows repeated and recent launches of ballistic missiles. We condemn this in the strongest possible terms,” said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. This is the 23rd rocket launch of the year by Kim Jong-un’s regime.
In August 2017, Pyongyang also fired a missile that flew over Japan. A week later, North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test.