CNN: North Korea launches missile ‘believed’ to fly over Japan
Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2022 1:43 am
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/03/asia/nor ... index.html
Seoul - CNN:
North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday morning local time, according to regional officials – an apparent escalation of Pyongyang’s habitual missile tests that prompted immediate backlash from Tokyo.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed the launch, saying that the missile passed eastward over neighboring Japan after launching from North Korea’s Mupyong-ri area in Jagang Province at around 7:23 a.m. local time.
“The military has strengthened its surveillance and vigilance and it is maintaining a fully prepared posture while closely cooperating with the US,” the South Korean joint chiefs added.
A tweet posted by Japan’s Prime Minister’s office urged residents to take shelter and “to not approach anything suspicious that is found and to immediately contact the police or fire department.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “strongly protested” the launch.
During a press conference Tuesday, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said that North Korea appeared to have fired a ballistic missile in the direction of Hokkaido, the country’s northernmost main island.
The missile flew over its northeastern prefecture of Aomori and landed outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone around 7:46 a.m. local time (6:46 p.m. ET), Matsuno said.
Matsuno added that he considered the launch a “threat to the public” and said Japan’s government would continue to analyze the situation and work closely with the international community.
According to CNN’s count, Tuesday’s launch marks North Korea’s 23rd missile launch this year, including both ballistic and cruise missiles.
However, launches over Japan are more rare; the last time North Korea fired a ballistic missile over territorial Japan was on September 15, 2017, when the projectile flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, setting off sirens across the island.
Tuesday’s launch could herald an intensification of provocations by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, experts told CNN.
“Pyongyang is still in the middle of a provocation and testing cycle and is likely waiting until after China’s mid-October Communist Party Congress to conduct an even more significant test,” said Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
“The Kim regime is developing weapons such as tactical nuclear warheads and submarine-launched ballistic missiles as part of a long-term strategy to outrun South Korea in an arms race and drive wedges among US allies.”
Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute, said a nuclear test could even be on the cards. “North Korea is going to keep conducting missile tests until the current round of modernization is done. I don’t think a nuclear explosion is far behind,” he told CNN.
Seoul - CNN:
North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday morning local time, according to regional officials – an apparent escalation of Pyongyang’s habitual missile tests that prompted immediate backlash from Tokyo.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed the launch, saying that the missile passed eastward over neighboring Japan after launching from North Korea’s Mupyong-ri area in Jagang Province at around 7:23 a.m. local time.
“The military has strengthened its surveillance and vigilance and it is maintaining a fully prepared posture while closely cooperating with the US,” the South Korean joint chiefs added.
A tweet posted by Japan’s Prime Minister’s office urged residents to take shelter and “to not approach anything suspicious that is found and to immediately contact the police or fire department.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “strongly protested” the launch.
During a press conference Tuesday, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said that North Korea appeared to have fired a ballistic missile in the direction of Hokkaido, the country’s northernmost main island.
The missile flew over its northeastern prefecture of Aomori and landed outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone around 7:46 a.m. local time (6:46 p.m. ET), Matsuno said.
Matsuno added that he considered the launch a “threat to the public” and said Japan’s government would continue to analyze the situation and work closely with the international community.
According to CNN’s count, Tuesday’s launch marks North Korea’s 23rd missile launch this year, including both ballistic and cruise missiles.
However, launches over Japan are more rare; the last time North Korea fired a ballistic missile over territorial Japan was on September 15, 2017, when the projectile flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, setting off sirens across the island.
Tuesday’s launch could herald an intensification of provocations by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, experts told CNN.
“Pyongyang is still in the middle of a provocation and testing cycle and is likely waiting until after China’s mid-October Communist Party Congress to conduct an even more significant test,” said Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
“The Kim regime is developing weapons such as tactical nuclear warheads and submarine-launched ballistic missiles as part of a long-term strategy to outrun South Korea in an arms race and drive wedges among US allies.”
Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute, said a nuclear test could even be on the cards. “North Korea is going to keep conducting missile tests until the current round of modernization is done. I don’t think a nuclear explosion is far behind,” he told CNN.