[Yu Ominae]

A North Korean missile was fired over Japan. First since 2017.

NK News reported it.

North Korea launched one ballistic missile likely over Japan and into the Pacific ocean on Tuesday morning, according to the Prime Minister’s office of Japan, prompting Tokyo to issue evacuation warnings.

“Missile launch, missile launch. Please evacuate to a building or underground,” warnings sounded on national TV as the government issued an evacuation notice for residents of Hokkaido and Aomori prefecture in the north of the country.

It’s the first time North Korea has launched a missile over Japanese territory in five years. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he “strongly condemns” the test, calling it a “violent act” in remarks to reporters.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said North Korea likely launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) from Muphyong-ri, Jagang Province in North Korea’s northwest at 7:23 a.m. KST.

According to the Japan Coast Guard, the missile landed in the Pacific Ocean east of Japan before 7:46 a.m. KST.

The JCS later said the missile flew a distance of around 2,800 miles (4,500 km) at a maximum detected altitude of around 600 miles (970 km) and speed of Mach 17.

“North Korea’s back-to-back ballistic missile provocation only strengthens the ROK-U.S. alliance’s deterrence and response capabilities, and only makes them further isolated from the international community,” the JCS said, “strongly condemning” what it called a “grave provocation.”

The JCS also urged Pyongyang to stop breaching U.N. Security Council resolutions “immediately,” though North Korea has consistently rejected the resolutions as illegitimate.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said that North Korea’s “reckless nuclear provocations” will be met with “resolute responses” from the ROK military, its allies and the international community, speaking to reporters before joining a National Security Council (NSC) meeting Tuesday morning.

It appears to be North Korea’s biggest missile tested since launching a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in May this year.

North Korea also tested an IRBM, the Hwasong-12, from Muphyong-ri in January, with pictures helping analysts identify the precise launch point as a missile factory known as the February 8 General Machine Factory.

Tuesday morning’s test follows four short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) tests in just over the past week. North Korean state media has not reported on its missile tests since April.

https://twitter.com/nhk_news/status/1577100448003231744

NHK News twitter video of a broadcasted warning for residents in Hokkaido to take cover.

I remember just flying out of Hokkaido back then North Korea did their thing.