North Korea, in an act of escalation, fired a missile over Japan early Tuesday morning. The missile flew over the northern island of Hokkaido and traveled 1,700 miles before landing in the sea. The…
North Korea, in an act of escalation, fired a missile over Japan early Tuesday morning. The missile flew over the northern island of Hokkaido and traveled 1,700 miles before landing in the sea. The launch is being considered as the first instance of North Korea firing a mid-range ballistic missile over Japan with capabilities of carrying a nuclear payload.
The missile was fired at 6 a.m. Japanese local time. The upgraded Japanese missile defense system kicked into action, and a message was sent warning the people to take cover, as reported by CNN. The same message was also broadcasted via public television. Bullet trains were also halted to prevent any untoward incident. After the missile had passed over Japan, another message asking the citizens to report anything suspicious was also communicated.
North Korea’s launch of the missile over Japan is only the third such instance in history. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a statement, “North Korea’s reckless action of launching a missile that passed over Japan is an unprecedented, serious and grave threat.” Apart from Japan, this launch also poses a challenge to President Trump who had recently threatened to rain down “fire and fury” on North Korea.
Reports suggest that the North Korean missile that flew over Japan was a Hwasong-12, an intermediate range ballistic missile technically capable of flying 3,000 miles.
