Missile launches by North Korea forced Japan to issue evacuation alerts and halt train service
North Korea continued to conduct weapons tests Thursday, firing at least three other ballistic missiles, including a suspected ICBM that forced Japan’s government to issue evacuation alerts and temporarily halt trains, according to CBS News.
The launches are the latest in a series of North Korean weapons tests in recent months that have heightened tensions in the region. A day earlier, Pyongyang fired more than 20 missiles, the most it has ever fired in a single day.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected North Korea firing a missile it assumed was an ICBM from an area near its capital Pyongyang at around 7:40 a.m. and then fired two short-range missiles from the nearby city of Kacheon that flew into the sea to the east, according to The Associated Press.
While South Korean officials did not immediately release more specific details of a possible intercontinental missile launch, it may have been fired at a high angle to avoid reaching neighboring territory.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said one of the North Korean missiles reached a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) and flew about 750 kilometers (460 miles).
The Japanese government initially said at least one of the missiles flew over its northern territory, but later revised its assessment and said there were no overflights.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s office issued warnings to residents of the northern prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata, directing them to enter sturdy buildings or underground. There have been no reports of damage or injuries in the areas where the alerts were issued.
Kishida called North Korea’s missile launches “outrageous and absolutely intolerable.”
On October 4, North Korea fired a ballistic missile at Japan for the first time in five years.
On Wednesday, North Korea fired more than 20 missiles, one of which flew in the direction of a populated South Korean island and landed near the rivals’ tense maritime border. The launches set off anti-aircraft sirens and forced residents of Ulleung Island to evacuate. South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.
The launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons for the United States and South Korea to “pay the most horrible price in history” in protest at ongoing military exercises between South Korea and the United States that consider a rehearsal for a possible invasion.