DPRK fires ballistic missile over Japan

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The DPRK on Tuesday launched a ballistic missile over Japan's northern territory which has sparked angry reactions from countries in the region and escalated the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The missile, flying more than 2,700 kilometers in an easterly direction, was fired from a site in Sunan in Pyongyang at around 5:57 a.m. local time, according to South Korea's military.

The military said the missile flew at a maximum altitude of around 550 kilometers and fell into the North Pacific Ocean.

S. Korea: Moon orders to show 'overwhelming force'

Seoul says it strongly condemns DPRK's missile launch and will respond to further nuclear missile provocations by the DPRK, according to a statement released by the South Korean government.

S. Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered military to show that its capabilities can overwhelm the DPRK should it decide to attack.

The display of overwhelming force involved the dropping of eight Mark 84 or MK84 multi purpose bombs by four F15K fighter jets at a shooting range near the inter-Korean border in Taebaek, Yonhap reported, citing Moon's chief press secretary Yoon Young-chan.

Japan: 'unprecedented, serious and grave threat'

Tokyo confirmed the launch as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described it as an "unprecedented, serious and grave threat."

"We will immediately collect and analyze details and the government will take full steps to protect Japanese people's lives," Abe told reporters, saying to urge the UN to strengthen pressure on Pyongyang.

Abe said the US showed a strong commitment to Tokyo's defense as President Donald Trump pledged to stand "100 percent with Japan" after the two leaders talked over the phone about the latest missile test.

US: measures to be taken including possibility of 'military responses'

The United States Department of Defense also confirmed the missile flew over Japan.

"North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea (the DPRK) did not pose a threat to North America," Pentagon spokesman Rob Manning said in a statement.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and S. Korean military chief Jeong Kyeong-doo agreed to take immediate actions in response to Tuesday's missile launch over an emergency phone call.

The two military officers agreed to take measures at the earliest possible date to show the strong determination of the allies, including military responses.

CGTN Photo

This has been the second missile launch from Pyongyang within one week. On Saturday morning, the DPRK fired three short-range missiles from a site in Kittaeryong in the eastern province of Gangwon into the Sea of Japan but the first and third missiles failed in flight and the second blown up almost immediately.

More pressures ahead

The United States, Japan and South Korea asked for an emergency meeting with the United Nations Security Council to discuss the test, said Reuters, citing diplomats.

A meeting of the 15-member Security Council would be held later on Tuesday, they said.

Earlier this month, the Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions – the seventh set of its kind on DPRK in response to two long-range missile launches in July.

Where did the missile target?

The missile flew over Erimomisaki, on the northern island of Hokkaido of Japan and broke into three pieces before falling into the Pacific Ocean, about 1,180 kilometers off the Japanese coast.

The Japanese military did not attempt to shoot down the missile, which passed over Japanese territory around 6:07 a.m. JST (2107 GMT), Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

Pedestrians watch the news on a huge screen displaying a map of Japan (R) and the Korean Peninsula, in Tokyo on August 29, 2017, following DPRK's missile test that passed over Japan. /AFP Photo

"There is no immediate report of the fallen objects and no damage to the ships and aircraft," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at an emergency press conference.

The Japanese government subsequently urged local people to take cover.

According to Japan's Defence minister, the missile was likely the same type of intermediate range ballistic missile DPRK fired in May and had threatened to launch at the US Pacific island territory of Guam.

The US confirmed the launch and the overflight of Japan, with Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning saying the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined it "did not pose a threat to North America".

What does it mean by overflying Japan?

The last time a DPRK rocket overflew Japan was in 2009, when Pyongyang said it was a satellite launch.

Before 2009, the only time it had traversed Japanese airspace was in 1998, in what it also claimed it was a space launch.

Some analysts believe Tuesday's launch was "unusual" from previous missile tests of the DPRK.

"It's pretty unusual," Jeffrey Lewis, head of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of Strategic Studies in California told Reuters, "North Korea's early space launches in 1998 and 2009 went over Japan, but that's not the same thing as firing a missile."

"It is a big deal that they overflew Japan, which they have carefully avoided doing for a number of years, even though it forced them to test missiles on highly lofted trajectories, and forced them to launch their satellites to the south, which is less efficient than launching to the east," David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists told CNN.

Why do it?

The firing comes during the annual South Korea-US joint military exercise, better know as the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which the DPRK always condemns as rehearsals for invasion.

The DPRK's state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that the US will be to blame for all the consequences.

The DPRK called the exercises preparations for "invasion", although the two countries said it is a defensive drill conducted annually.

DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released the photo on August 23, 2017, showing its leader Kim Jong Un (L) visiting the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defense Science at an undisclosed location. /AFP Photo

Earlier this month, the DPRK said it is considering missile strikes against US military base of Guam hours after US President Donald Trump told DPRK that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury".

Guam is about 3,500 kilometers from DPRK – although Tuesday's missile was fired in an easterly direction and not towards the US outpost.

Last month, the DPRK carried out two Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) tests, ignoring strong opposition from the international community and repeated calls for Pyongyang to engage in dialogue.

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