North Korea fires missile over Japan without warning

August 29, 2017

TOKYO- North Korea launched a ballistic missile from the country's western coast over Japan early Tuesday morning without warning, a move that Tokyo has condemned as an "unprecedented" threat.This is the first time that a North Korean missile has flown over the Japanese archipelago, excluding the southwestern islets, since April 2009.

With the day's firing representing one of the most provocative missile tests in recent years, the government lodged a strong protest against North Korea through a diplomatic channel.

"A missile launch across Japan is an outrageous act that poses an unprecedented, grave and serious threat, and significantly undermines the peace and security of the region," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters at the prime minister's office.

"The government has stayed fully abreast of the developments related to the missile since immediately after its launch, and has taken all possible measures to protect the lives of the Japanese people," he said.

Abe had a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump and agreed to strengthen pressure on North Korea.

In the 40-minute talks, Trump told Abe that the United States fully stands with Japan.

Japan, the United States and South Korea asked the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting in the wake of the ballistic missile launch by North Korea. Based on the request, the meeting is set to be held later on Tuesday.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono held telephone talks with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and discussed responses to North Korea's repeated provocations.

The missile is believed to have fallen into the Pacific Ocean some 1,180 kilometers east of Cape Erimo in Hokkaido after flying over the Oshima Peninsula in the northernmost prefecture. There has been no report of damage from the missile, according to government and other sources.

At a hastily called news conference early in the morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missile was fired from a site at Sunan near Pyongyang at 5:58 a.m. Japan time (8:58 p.m. Monday GMT).

The missile is believed to have flown over Cape Erimo around 6:06 a.m. and fallen into waters in the Pacific Ocean around 6:12 a.m., according to Suga. The missile may have split into three parts above the Sea of Japan, he said.

Suga said the missile did not drop in Japanese territory and that there has been no report of damage to Japanese aircraft or ships. The Self-Defense Forces did not intercept the missile.

According to the South Korean military, the missile is projected to have traveled some 2,700 kilometers and reached an altitude of about 550 kilometers.

In connection with this, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said the missile was not launched on a lofted trajectory. Pyongyang did not inform Tokyo of its missile firing in advance, he added.

He also said that the projectile may be a Hwasong-12 new intermediate ballistic missile, the type fired by North Korea in May.

Soon after receiving information of the missile launch, the government warned the public through municipalities by utilizing its J-Alert early warning system.

At a meeting of the National Security Council at the prime minister's office, Abe instructed related government agencies to provide information promptly to the public and take all possible measures to prepare for any contingency.

The prime minister also called for stronger efforts to gather and analyze information about North Korea's moves.

This is the fifth time that a North Korean ballistic missile has flown over any part of Japan, including the southwestern islands. Of the previous four cases, the first one, which happened in August 1998, was the only case in which the launch was conducted without warning. Jiji Press