New, dangerous provocation by Pyongyang. North Korea launched a ballistic missile that flew over Japan, an escalation for which the head of the Tokyo government, Fumio Kishida, spoke of “violent behavior”. News of the test was given by the South Korean military leaders: the General Staff reported that the North Koreans launched a medium-range ballistic missile, which flew over the eastern part of the Japanese archipelago, reaching a distance of 4,500 kilometers and an altitude of 970, before ending up in the Pacific Ocean.
Japan and the United States have agreed to strengthen the deterrence and military response capabilities of their alliance in light of North Korea’s new test. On the Italian night, Pyongyang launched a missile that flew over Japanese territory, a launch in which the US and Japan see “a serious and imminent threat” to the national security of the archipelago. The foreign ministers of the two countries, Yoshimasa Hayashi and Antony Blinken, spoke on the phone after the launch, the first since 2017 to fly over Japan and which triggered the anti-missile alert in the north of the country, calling it “a matter of great concern for Japanese and global security. Hayashi and Blinken “strongly condemned the launch as a serious and imminent threat to the security of Japan and a clear and serious challenge to the international community,” said the note released in Tokyo. The US secretary of state and the Japanese foreign minister agreed to continue working to strengthen Japan’s defensive capabilities “and confirmed that they will strengthen the alliance’s deterrence and response capabilities”, promoting trilateral cooperation with Korea. of the South.
Ballistic missile launched from North Korea flies over Japan: sirens sound in Misawa
The Japanese authorities confirmed that no casualties were recorded after the new missile test by North Korea, which caused the alert in the northeast of the country and then sank well outside the territorial waters. However, the initiative triggered the alert system, with televised messages warning the inhabitants of the areas concerned to go to the nearest shelters. The spokesman for the Japanese government, Hirokazu Matsuno, explained that the missile flew over the Tohoku region, without causing damage or injuries. The Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, spoke of “an act of violence that we strongly condemn”
The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are conducting a detailed analysis to verify the specifications of the missile which, on an initial analysis, refers to a Hwasong 12 that in January flew about 800 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 2,000 km. “North Korea’s series of ballistic missile provocations will further strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the South Korea-US alliance and will only deepen the isolation of the North from the international community,” the Command said in a note, condemning the launch as “a significant act of provocation” that undermines peace and stability not only on the Korean peninsula but also in the international community, representing a “clear” violation of UN Security Council resolutions.