Japan Defense Minister: N.korean Missile Did Not Fly Over Japan
Japan's defense minister says North Korea fired multiple missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Thursday morning.
Hamada Yasukazu told reporters that one of the missiles is believed to be an intermediate- or long-range ballistic missile. He said it had reached an altitude of about 2,000 kilometers and traveled roughly 750 kilometers, before falling into the Sea of Japan.
He said the government had detected that another of the missiles might fly over Japan, and issued an alert through the nationwide J-ALERT emergency warning system.
But he said the government later corrected this information, after confirming that the projectile did not fly over the country but had disappeared from radar over the Sea of Japan.
Hamada said the ministry is analyzing the situation and will inform the public as soon as it has further details.
He noted that North Korea had fired at least 23 missiles and over 100 artillery shells on Wednesday.
He said his ministry continues to monitor the situation with a sense of vigilance.