“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 a more militarily significant test.” Diplomacy isn’t dead, but talks aren’t about to resume either,” Easley said. “By now, North Korea’s short-range missile tests suffer diminishing returns in terms of technical advancement, domestic political value, and international signalling. Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the North’s flurry of tests in recent days could be a precursor to a launch involving larger missiles. In September 2017, millions of residents in a dozen Japanese prefectures were warned to take cover inside buildings or underground in chilling reminders that the country is within easy striking distance of North Korean missiles.Ī second alert confirmed that the missile, thought to be an intermediate-range Hwasong-12, had passed over without incident and landed in the Pacific 2,000km to the east. Later in the day South Korean and US fighter jets carried out a “precision bombing drill” in response, Seoul’s military said, with South Korean F-15Ks dropping joint direct attack munitions at a target in the Yellow Sea. Tuesday’s test also comes a few days after the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, made a high-profile visit to the heavily armed border separating the two Koreas. The allies insist the drills are purely defensive, but Pyongyang condemns them as a rehearsal for an invasion. The latest launch is the fifth in 10 days, as the North ramps up its response to the recent resumption of large-scale military exercises by US and South Korean forces. Japan’s government issued a swift rebuke, describing the launch as a “threat to regional security”. Missile passed.’ Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/AP It was the seventh time North Korea had launched a missile over Japan, it added.Ī TV shows J-Alert national early warning system to Japanese residents. There were no reports of injuries or of damage to ships or aircraft. Kyodo reported Japanese defence ministry sources as saying the missile had flown eastward over the Japan Sea – known in Korea as the East Sea – before flying over Japanese territory. The US state department said the “reckless and dangerous launch” posed “an unacceptable threat to the Japanese public”. “North Korea’s series of actions, including its repeated ballistic missile launches, threatens the peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community, and poses a serious challenge to the entire international community, including Japan,” Japan’s top government spokesperson, Hirokazu Matsuno, said in a brief news conference. TV Asahi, citing an unnamed government source, said the missile had fallen in the sea 3,000km (1,860 miles) east of Japan at 7.44am local time after a 22-minute flight. It was the first time North Korea has sent a missile over Japanese territory since 2017.
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