Shelter warnings in Japan after North Korea conducts presumed failed IBCM test
UPDATE
Tensions are continuing in the latest episode between North Korea and South Korea. North Korea today conducted what was believed to be a failed launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
A South Korean government source said the presumed Hwasong-17 ICBM successfully separated at the second stage, but is believed to have failed after that, and fell into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Following the seemingly failed ICBM launch today, there have been warnings in Japan for people to seek shelter in the northern prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata, and Niigata. Japan’s Defense Ministry later evaluated that the missile did not cross over Japan.
The ministry said that North Korea launched at least three ballistic missiles this morning, including a possible ICBM, CNN reported.
ORIGINAL STORY
A missile from North Korea today landed close to South Korean waters for the first time since the countries split in 1945, according to South Korean officials. Since then, South Korea retaliated by launching missiles in return.
This latest tit-for-tat conflict began after North Korea fired at least 10 missiles to the east and west of the Korean Peninsula.
The one missile that landed close to South Korean waters made a splash in international waters 167 kilometres northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung island, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). An air raid warning on the island was lifted in the afternoon.
Imagine watching TV this morning to the sound of an air raid alarm due to North Korean missiles pic.twitter.com/RrizYAlKXY
— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) November 2, 2022
The missiles launched today landed west of the peninsula in the Yellow Sea, and to the east in the Sea of Japan, a South Korean defence official said.
South Korea retaliated by launching three of their missiles, which officials said landed a similar distance past the Northern Limit Line, the BBC reported. The demarcation line marks the rough midway point in the sea between the countries, although North Korea has never accepted this.
North Korea later fired about 100 artillery shells into an eastern maritime buffer zone. The zone was established in 2018 to reduce tensions, according to South Korea’s military.
This news comes after North Korea warned earlier this week that it would respond with “powerful follow-up measures” if the US and South Korea continue their air exercises.
The air drills were believed to be in response to North Korea firing two short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, the latest of a number of missile launches over the past two months.
Time will tell what happens next in the latest outburst between the two bitter enemies.
