Rebecca Byrne | Political Editor
In the early hours of this morning a ballistic missile fired by the North Korean regime passed over the Tohoku region of Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of the Korean Peninsula.
This morning, South Korean joint chiefs have confirmed that North Korea “fired an unidentified projectile” from an area near Sunan, Pyongyang, in the direction of the eastern Korean Peninsula.
Local governments sent out a J-Alert warning text to Japanese civilians across the north to take precautions; urging those in danger to seek refuge in sturdy buildings or in underground shelters. Japanese self-defence forces made no attempt at bringing down the missile.
Eventually breaking into 3 pieces, the missile soon fell into the Pacific Ocean 733 miles east of Hokkaido’s capital, Cape Erimo, at around 6AM local time. There have been no reports of debris falling on land.
Speaking to reporters early on Tuesday morning, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated :
“We’ll immediately gather information and analyse it, and take all possible measures to ensure people’s safety.”
As reports of the launch first surfaced it was unclear how many ballistic missiles had been fired. There were numerous unconfirmed reports that the regime had in fact launched several missiles and it was not instantly clear what type of projectile had flown into Japanese airspace.
In 1998 North Korea was condemned for firing a test satellite launch vehicle into Japanese airspace. The regime did not carry out any further launches over Japan until 2009, when they launched a test projectile that ultimately failed, landing in the Pacific Ocean.
Tuesdays launch may be viewed as a show of aggression towards the ongoing military exercises being carried out by America and South Korea. The drills follow Kim Jong-Un’s recent threats of launching test missiles towards the US territory of Guam, in the pacific ocean.
This recent unprecedented launch has escalated tensions between the surrounding countries in the Far East and the United States, marking a dangerous advance in Kim Jong-Un’s regime.
