Tension on Korean peninsula intensifies after North fires another missile over Japan
US defence secretary says the launch ‘put millions of Japanese into duck and cover’, although residents in north of the country appeared calm after the second such launch in less than a month
Seoul/Tokyo — North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan’s northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, South Korean and Japanese officials said, deepening tension after Pyongyang’s recent test of its most powerful nuclear bomb. The missile flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific about 2,000km east of Hokkaido, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. Warning announcements about the missile blared around 7am local time in parts of northern Japan, while many residents received alerts on their mobile phones or saw warnings on TV telling them to seek refuge. Jim Mattis, the US secretary of defence, said the launch "put millions of Japanese into duck and cover", although residents in northern Japan appeared calm and went about their business as normal after the second such launch in less than a month. The missile reached an altitude of about 770km and flew for about 19 minutes over a distance of about 3,700km, according to South Korea’s mili...
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