Global Courant 2023-04-13 04:20:30
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
The Japanese government has since informed residents that the reported missile launch no longer poses a threat.
North Korea has launched a ballistic missile that landed in the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan, prompting a brief evacuation order for residents of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staffs said the North Korean missile was launched at 07:23 (Wednesday, 22:23 GMT) from a location near the capital Pyongyang.
The missile, believed to be medium-range or longer, flew toward the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan before falling into the sea, the JCS added.
Japan also said the missile landed in the water, but did not immediately give a more precise landing location.
It lifted an earlier evacuation order for residents of Hokkaido, the second largest island.
The Japan Coast Guard said no distress signals had been received from ships in the area.
The Japanese government ordered the evacuation warning over fears that the missile was heading toward Hokkaido, encouraging residents to move indoors or underground for shelter. It later said the warning was based on a “false” prediction.
North Korea conducted a record number of weapons tests in 2022 and has kept up with the pace of development this year, viewing its recent missile launches as a response to joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea that the country says are a rehearsal for an invasion.
As a sign of heightened tension, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency quoted leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday as calling for his country’s military to be strengthened in a “more practical and offensive way”.
The Central Military Commission meeting took place Monday in response to “the escalating moves of the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet traitors to unleash a war of aggression,” according to the KCNA.
The news agency explained that military leaders there “discussed practicalities and measures for machines to prepare various military action proposals” that the “enemy” could not counter.
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