North Korea fires missile near Japan after record day of launches

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Thursday, authorities in South Korea and Japan said, after an unprecedented number of launches

One of the missiles prompted evacuations in the Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata prefectures of Japan.

“North Korea’s repeated missile launches are an outrage and absolutely cannot be forgiven,” Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.

He added that one of the rockets may have been an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Pyongyang has ramped up such missile tests in recent months, often saying it is a response to the United States and South Korea resuming joint military exercises in the region. It views the drills as a rehearsal for an invasion.

Japan on alert

Japan’s country’s J-Alert emergency broadcasting system initially said the missile flew over the country.before landing in the ocean. Tokyo later said this was incorrect.

“We detected a launch that showed the potential to fly over Japan and therefore triggered the J-Alert, but after checking the flight we confirmed that it had not passed over Japan,” Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada later said.

In a phone call on Thursday, officials from Seoul and Washington jointly condemned last launch as “deplorable” and “immoral.”

World condemns record day of tests

North Korea’s launch of 23 missiles on Wednesday was “effectively a territorial invasion,” South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol said. It was the most missiles fired by the North in a single day.

The tests included seven short-range ballistic missiles and six ground-to-air missiles.

South Korea responded by launching three ground-to-air missiles of its own.

One of the North Korean missiles crossed the maritime border between the two countries, landing just 57 kilometers (35 miles) off the eastern coast of South Korea. The incident triggered air raid sirens on the island of Ulleung and forced people to take shelter.

The United States called the launches “reckless” and said it would make sure it had the military capabilities in place to defend its treaty allies South Korea and Japan.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the launches were “unprecedented in the sense that there were so many.”

A spokesperson for the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the latest round of missile launches “a wanton and dangerous escalation,” while the United Kingdom also condemned the “unprecedented number of missiles.” Russia also called for calm.

North Korea supplying Russia with weapons — US

The United States on Wednesday said it had information indicating that North Korea was covertly supplying Russia with a “significant” number of artillery shells for its invasion of Ukraine.

“Our indications are that the DPRK is covertly supplying and we are going to monitor to see whether the shipments are received,” White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said, using the official acronym for North Korea.

In September, Pyongyang said it had never supplied weapons or ammunition to Russia and had no plans to do so.

North Korean leaders also told the United States to “keep its mouth shut” and stop spreading rumors aimed at “tarnishing” the country’s image.