Tensions simmer as North Korea launches ballistic missile over Japan
North Korea fired a ballistic missile which flew over Japan's northern Hokkaido island before landing far out into the Pacific Ocean. The launch, the second such test in weeks, happened after the North threatened to "sink Japan and turn America to ashes." Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said Tokyo would "never tolerate" North Korea's dangerous actions. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned the launch.
North Korea launches ballistic missile over Japan
On August 29, the South Korean military said a North Korean ballistic missile was fired toward the East from a site near Pyongyang. It covered a distance of 2700 km, reaching up to a maximum altitude of 550 km and flew over the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Local media reported that the missile broke into three pieces before dropping in the North Pacific Ocean.
North Korea conducts sixth nuclear weapons test, most powerful yet
On September 3, North Korea said it had successfully tested a missile-ready hydrogen bomb which is several times more powerful than an atomic bomb. The development came hours after an earth tremor was detected by seismologists which was 9.8 times more powerful than the one recorded during the North's fifth nuclear test. The test was met with international condemnation.
Missile launch signals the North has capability of attacking Guam
The South Korean military said the missile was launched from the North Korean capital Pyongyang. It reached an estimated altitude of around 770km and traveled 3,700km before landing in the ocean, far enough to target the US Pacific territory of Guam. The US military believes the North had launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile. Warning sirens blared in northern Japan as the missile flew overhead.
Missile launch comes weeks after North's H-bomb test
The US military said the missile posed no threat to North America or Guam, which North Korean leader Kim Jong-un previously threatened to attack. It comes weeks after Pyongyang conducted an H-bomb test, its sixth and most powerful nuclear test. The latest launch is the first since the UN Security Council (UNSC) tightened sanctions against the North. The situation in the Korean peninsula remains tense.
Japan calls test "unacceptable," US urges Russia, China to act
Abe called the launch "unacceptable" and said, "The international community needs to come together and send a clear message to North Korea that it is threatening world peace with its actions." Tillerson condemned the launch and said China and Russia, the North's biggest economic partners, "must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own."
South Korea responds by launching two ballistic missile tests
South Korea has responded to the North's test by launching two ballistic missiles in a show of strength. The missiles were fired just six minutes after the North's missile was launched and were meant to demonstrate how swiftly the South can launch a retaliatory strike. One of the South Korean missiles was successfully launched while the other failed.
