North Korea launches missile over Japan
North Korea fired a missile early on Tuesday from near Pyongyang that flew over northern Japan, the South Korean and Japanese governments said.
Public broadcaster NHK reported that the missile broke into three pieces and fell into the waters off Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's main islands.
The Japanese government issued an alert for residents in some prefectures to take cover.
Although North Korea has sent a missile over Japan once before - in 1998 - this launch comes at a time of heightened tensions.
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Pyongyang has been threatening to fire a missile over Japan and into the waters around the American territory of Guam.
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"We'll make the utmost effort to protect the public," a visibly agitated Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said shortly after the missile launch.
The missile was launched at 5.58 am Japan time, and flew over Hokkaido at 6.06am.
South Korea's joint chiefs of staff also confirmed that the missile had passed over Japan.
The missile flew 1244 kilometres to land in the Pacific Ocean east of Hokkaido's Cape Erimo, NHK reported.
Kim Jong Un, who has ordered the launch of 18 missiles this year alone, has defied international calls to desist and has instead been making strides in his weapons program, last month launching two intercontinental ballistic missiles theoretically capable of reaching the mainland United States.
Tuesday's launch, coming on the heels of three short-range missiles fired Saturday, comes amid ongoing joint exercises between the US and South Korean militaries, exercises that North Korea always strongly protests because it considers them preparation for an invasion.
Tensions had eased between North Korea and the United States after weeks of threats.
Earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had threatened to fire missiles into the sea near the US Pacific territory of Guam, and US President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang would http://www.smh.com.au/world/donald-trumps-fire-and-fury-threat-to-north-korea-was-improvised-20170809-gxsyae.html" rel="nofollow - face "fire and fury" if it threatened the US .
More to come
Washington Post
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