North Korea has fired more than one missile over Japan into the Pacific, the Japanese government said on Thursday, issuing warnings to people in some regions to seek shelter or stay at home.
The missiles flew over Japan around 07:48 a.m. (10:48 p.m. Wednesday in Lisbon), the Japanese prime minister’s office explained through the social network Twitter, quoted by the Associated Press (AP) agency.
TV stations broadcast special messages asking people in some regions of the country to seek shelter or stay home.
The announcement from Japan’s prime minister’s office came shortly after the South Korean military detected the launch of at least one ballistic missile into its eastern sea.
Tokyo announced that more than one missile was fired, although it did not specify how many, but said that they flew over its territory and fell into the Pacific Ocean.
Japanese authorities issued warnings to people in the northern regions of Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata, urging them to seek shelter or stay home, with no damage or injuries reported.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul did not immediately confirm what type of missile it had detected or how far it had traveled.
The launches came a day after North Korea fired more than 20 missiles, the most ever fired in a single day.
One such missile flew into a populated South Korean island and landed near the rivals’ tense sea border, setting off air-raid sirens and forcing residents of Ulleung Island to seek shelter.
South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.
Wednesday’s launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to make the United States and South Korea “pay the most horrible price in history” in protest against North and South Korean military exercises. . a possible invasion.
In October, Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan, describing the exercise as a test of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile that experts say could hit Guam, a key US military hub in the Pacific.
This launch also forced the Japanese government to issue evacuation alerts and halt rail traffic in some regions.
North Korea has been ramping up its weapons demonstrations at a record pace this year, having already fired dozens of missiles, including its first ICBM demonstration since 2017, while taking advantage of the distraction created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to boost development. of weapons. .
Source: TSF
