Tensions Rise As North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Over Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday denounced the recent North Korea missile fired over its airspace into the Pacific Ocean.

The nuclear weapon-armed country demonstrated its willingness to raise tensions by sending the missile, which had a flat trajectory, directly over Japanese territory.

The missile was fired just before 6 a.m., Japanese time, setting off warnings in the northern part of the country urging people to seek shelter. It flew over Erimomisaki, on the northern island of Hokkaido, and broke into three pieces before falling into the Pacific Ocean, about 1,180 kilometers (733 miles) off the Japanese coast.

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Mr. Abe said it was an “unprecedented, serious and grave threat to Japan” that “significantly undermines the peace and security of the region.”

The Japanese leader said he had a 40-minute phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump where they both agreed to call for an emergency UN Security Council meeting.

“Japan and the US completely agreed that an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council should be held immediately and increase the pressure towards North Korea.”

Trump, according to Mr. Abe, reiterated that the United States “stands with Japan 100%.

Reactions To North Korea Missle

Analysts believe this recent launch shows a new level of confidence from Pyongyang who under the leadership of Kim Jong Un is rapidly developing its nuclear and missile programs.

Co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists said:

“It is a big deal that they overflew Japan, which they have carefully avoided doing for a number of years, even though it forced them to test missiles on highly lofted trajectories, and forced them to launch their satellites to the south, which is less efficient than launching to the east (due to the Earth’s rotational motion),” said David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Another analyst, however, said while the missile flew over Japanese territory, it was not necessarily intended as a threat to the country.

“If they’re going to launch to a distance they’ve got to go over somebody. It looks to me like a risk reduction measure, they want to reduce the populated areas they fly over just in case anything goes wrong,” said Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

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North Korea’s neighbors to the South have, meanwhile, responded by conducting a bombing drill at 9:30 a.m. local time to test its “capability to destroy the North Korean leadership” in cases of emergency.

South Korea’s Presidential Public Affairs Office head, Yoon Young-chan, told reporters that four F-15K fighter jets dropped eight one-ton MK-84 bombs at a shooting range.

He said the operation was meant “to showcase a strong punishment capability against the North.”

“We are fully ready to counter any threat from North Korea and will make unwavering efforts to protect the lives of our people and the security of our nation.”

China has called for restraint from all parties involved. It warned that the situation on the Korean peninsula has reached “a tipping point approaching a crisis”.