Tokyo [Japan], November 3 (ANI): North Korea launched at least three ballistic missiles with one of them disappearing from the radar over the sea of Japan which triggered an alert for residents in Japan to take shelter, Kyodo News Agency citing Japanese government reported.
The Japanese government said that no damage from the missile has been reported till now. It had earlier urged residents in some northeastern and central Japan prefectures to remain indoors.
The news agency citing Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said that the first missile was launched around 7:40 a.m. on a potential trajectory over Japan, but it disappeared from radar over the Sea of Japan.
“We are still investigating the cause of its disappearance,” Hamada told reporters.
This comes a day after North Korea fired off a barrage of at least 23 missiles of various types from its east and west coasts, including the one that landed near South Korean territorial waters for the first time since 1953, Japan Times reported.
Soon after the missile was launched, Japan’s Prime Minister’s Office issued an instruction. The first one states to dedicate maximum effort to gathering and analyzing information and providing the public with speedy and adequate information. “Ensure the safety of aircraft, vessels, and other assets” and third is to “Take all possible measures for precaution, including readiness for contingencies.”As one of the missiles landed in the South Korean region, the country fired three air-to-ground missiles.
The missiles were fired into waters “near the Northern Limit Line at a distance corresponding to the area where the North Korean missile struck,” South Korea’s military said in a statement, adding the exercise showed that Seoul would respond “sternly to any provocations”.South Korea’s military said that its fighter jets fired three precision-guided missiles near the rivals’ eastern border.
It said that the launches were in reaction to a barrage of North Korean missile tests earlier.
South Korea said that one of the North Korean missiles landed near the sea border.This is the first time ever since the peninsula’s division more than seven decades ago that North Korean missiles landed close to South Korean waters.
South Korea denounced North Korea’s missile launches and called it an “intolerable” act, The Yonhap News Agency in South Korea quoted an official on the island saying that employees took shelter in a basement when the air raid warning for Ulleung was broadcast on national television.
President Yoon Suk-Yeol convened a meeting of the National Security Council and condemned the “unprecedented” launches, which took place amid a period of national mourning for the 156 people killed in the Itaewon crowd crush at the weekend.Sending a missile south of the NLL was “tantamount to territorial intrusion,” he was quoted as saying in a statement following the NSC meeting.
“The North Korean missile launch is very unusual and unacceptable as it fell close to South Korean territorial waters” south of the maritime border, said Kang Shin-Chul, Director of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reported Yonhap News Agency.
Seoul on Wednesday issued an air raid alert after North Korea fired short-range missiles. (ANI)