Millions of Japanese woke up with an alarming message from government, cell phones, and email, inviting them to stay home and look for refuge because a North Korean missile was flying over the territory. The sirens played on all the locations in the ballistic missile trajectory, which flew the Japanese territory for two minutes before falling into the sea.
A few minutes earlier, the government had sent a text message on cell phones warning citizens of the launch: "Missile in progress, missile in progress." The alert asked citizens to seek refuge and also warned them that if they found suspicious objects, they should not approach but call the police or firefighters. It was the first North Korean missile to fly over Japan in several years. "It is a serious and unprecedented threat," said the premier. Shinzo Abe, and "could significantly jeopardize peace and stability in the region".
Japan also lodged a formal protest against Pyongyang and asked, together with the US, for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. After the launch, the Tokyo government held a National Security Council meeting, as it did in Seoul as well. According to Japanese army sources, the missile could be an intermediate range carrier already used by Pyongyang last May. The last missile launch over the skies of Japan was in April 2009, when Pyongyang launched a long-range Taepodong-2 missile. The missile finished its run at sea 1180 kilometers east of Japan, flying 2700 kilometers and reaching a height of 550 kilometers: it would have broken into three parts before ending up in the Pacific Ocean, according to a government spokesman. of Tokyo, Yoshihide Suga.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense, Minister Itsunori Onodera said, did not give an order to intercept the missile, because it considered that there was no possibility of it landing on Japanese soil. Further surveys on the trajectory of the North Korean missile, probably a Hwasong-12, are still underway by the Tokyo Ministry of Defense. Japan and the United States have agreed to increase pressure on Pyongyang against the North Korean missile and nuclear development program. The commitment was the subject of a telephone conversation between the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and the President of the United States, Donald Trump. For the Japanese prime minister, Pyongyang's latest provocation clearly demonstrates that North Korea is not ready for dialogue, and that pressure must be increased. The president of the United States, reports the Japanese news agency Kyodo, then told the Japanese prime minister that Washington is with Tokyo at 100. Both leaders then underlined the importance of the involvement of Russia and China in the measures to be taken. take against the Kim Jong-un regime.