North Korean missile prompts emergency alert by Japan — and confusion
U.S., Japan hold drills after latest launch, South Korea expresses concern over new type of missile
The Japanese government said the emergency evacuation warning it issued and later retracted for millions of residents after a North Korean missile launch on Thursday morning was appropriate and not an error.
The alert just before 8 a.m. on Thursday triggered sirens on Hokkaido and sent automated messages to mobile phones in a system called J-Alert urging the northern island's more than five million residents to seek immediate shelter after Pyongyang fired a new type of ballistic missile.
Officials switched the alarm off at 8:16 a.m. after getting updated information about the missile's trajectory, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a media briefing. Japan's coast guard said the missile had landed by 8:19 a.m.
"The projectile disappeared immediately after detection, but the limited information we had indicated it could fall in the vicinity of Hokkaido, and peoples' safety is our top priority," Matsuno said.
Public broadcaster NHK, the coast guard and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) described the cancelled alert as a "correction," a characterization Matsuno disputed.
'Grave provocation': South Korea
J-Alert has drawn scrutiny after authorities triggered a warning in November across a swath of central and northern Japan that a North Korean missile was on course to fly over the Japanese islands. The projectile dropped into the sea long before reaching the archipelago.
The potential for unnecessary panic caused by false alarms was demonstrated in the United States in 2018 when a mistaken ballistic missile attack alert that sounded for more than 30 minutes stoked panic in Hawaii as residents and tourists scrambled for cover.
The North Korean missile flew about 1,000 kilometres, South Korea's military said, calling it a "grave provocation."
North Korea has been working to build more solid-fuel missiles, which are easier to store and transport, and can be launched with almost no warning or preparation time.
If the launch involved a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, it would be the North's first test of such a weapon. North Korea's known ICBMs all use liquid propellants that must be fuelled before launches. But the fuel in a solid-propellant weapon is already loaded, allowing it to be moved easier and fired faster.
"So far, we assess that they fired a new type of ballistic missile with an intermediate or intercontinental range," a South Korean official told Reuters under condition of anonymity. "We're still analyzing details like the trajectory, altitude and range, with the possibility that it carried a solid-fuel propellant."
The South Korean military said it was on high alert and co-ordinating closely with its main ally, the United States.
Following the missile launch, the Japanese and U.S. air forces conducted drills over the Sea of Japan "as the security environment surrounding Japan is becoming more and more severe," the Japanese defence ministry said.
Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada said earlier the missile appeared to have been fired eastward at a high angle and did not fall in Japanese territory. He said the ministry was analyzing the launch for more details.
Hamada said he could not confirm whether the missile flew over Japan's exclusive economic zone.
Japan's coast guard said a projectile that appeared to be the missile had fallen into the sea east of North Korea.
Momentary panic: witness
On Thursday, a student told Japanese broadcaster NHK that the alert caused momentary alarm at a train station in Hokkaido.
"For a second in the train there was panic, but a station worker said to calm down, and people did," said the man, whom NHK did not name.
The launch came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for a strengthening of the country's war deterrence in a "more practical and offensive" manner to counter what the country called moves of aggression by the United States.
The U.S. said late Wednesday it "strongly condemns" North Korea for the launch.
"The door has not closed on diplomacy, but Pyongyang must immediately cease its destabilizing actions and instead choose diplomatic engagement," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
North Korea has criticized a recent series of joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea as escalating tensions, and has stepped up its weapons tests in recent months.