NKorea Fires Missile over Japan into Pacific
Local Editor
North Korea fired another missile over Japan, Japanese and Korean media said, a few hours after Pyongyang threatened to "sink" its south eastern neighbor.
The missile launch from Pyongyang on early Friday prompted officials to ask people in the Japanese island of Hokkaido to take shelter, local media reported.
The missile flew for about 20 minutes before crashing into the Pacific Ocean about 2,000 kilometers east of Hokkaido at around 7 am local time, the Japanese state broadcaster NHK reported, citing government officials.
"North Korea fired an unidentified missile eastward from the vicinity of Pyongyang this morning," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The unknown missile reached an altitude of 770 km and covered a distance of 3,700 km during its flight, according to the South Korean military.
The South's military officials said they were working with their American counterparts to analyze the details of the launch.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe both called their ministers to hold urgent national Security Council meetings following the launch.
Abe said Japan will "never tolerate" what he described as North Korea's "dangerous provocative action that threatens world peace."
Moon said the new move by Pyongyang would only lead to further diplomatic and economic isolation.
"President Moon ordered officials to closely analyze and prepare for new possible North Korean threats like EMP [electro-magnetic pulse] and biochemical attacks," Moon's spokesman Park Su-hyun told reporters.
According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, the country's military forces also conducted a ballistic missile drill in the Japan Sea, known as the East Sea, in response to the missile alert.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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