North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Thursday, triggering a brief alert in the Japanese island of Hokkaido before Japan clarified that the projectile had not hit its territory.
The missile “did not fall on Japanese territory”, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said. Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said it was probably an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The projectile “is likely an ICBM-class ballistic missile” whose trajectory was “steeply inclined towards the east”, Mr. Hamada told reporters, specifying that this missile did not appear to have fallen in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). ) Japanese.
North Korea generally fires its ballistic missiles with a lobed trajectory, so as to prevent them from flying over other countries. But North Korean missiles have already passed over Japan several times in the past.
The South Korean general staff announced for its part that “North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile towards the East Sea”, the Korean name for the Sea of Japan, without further details.
The shooting triggered a brief alert in the island of Hokkaido, in the north of the Japanese archipelago.
“Evacuate immediately. Evacuate immediately,” the Japanese government ordered in a message, asking residents of Hokkaido to take refuge in buildings or underground.
Coastguards and local authorities, however, quickly ruled out any danger.
This shooting came as two ministerial meetings of the rich G7 countries are scheduled for the next few days in Japan: a meeting of environment ministers in Hokkaido on Saturday and Sunday, and one of foreign ministers on Sunday and Monday in Karuizawa.
“Radioactive tsunami”
Pyongyang has stepped up arms tests in recent months, heightening tension with Seoul and Washington, which have for their part strengthened their military cooperation and carried out vast joint maneuvers in the region.
On Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for increasing his country’s deterrence capabilities to counter “the escalation of maneuvers by US imperialists and treacherous South Korean puppets to unleash a war of aggression”. , according to the official KCNA news agency.
Since March 23, Pyongyang has notably claimed to have carried out three tests of an underwater nuclear attack drone capable of “producing a large-scale radioactive tsunami”. These craft are known as “Haeil”, which means tsunami in Korean.
The North Korean regime also said it launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on March 16.
Last year, North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power, thus burying any negotiations on the denuclearization of the country.
And in March, Kim Jong Un ordered his troops to intensify their exercises for “real war”. Washington and Seoul responded with new joint military maneuvers, involving US stealth aircraft.
Pyongyang sees the exercises as rehearsals for an invasion of its territory and on Tuesday called them “hysterical” exercises, “simulating an all-out war against” North Korea.
South Korea also called North Korea “irresponsible” after Pyongyang cut off communications with Seoul last week.
The North and South militaries communicate twice a day through a specific line, but North Korea has not answered calls since April 7, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.