North Korea launches missile salvo toward the Sea of Japan

North Korea launched what may have been a ballistic missile at about 12:36 p.m. local time on Oct. 29, and it is presumed to have fallen near the east coast of the Korean Peninsula without reaching Japan’s territory or exclusive economic zone, Japan’s Ministry of Defense said on social media.

Tokyo said Japan, the United States and South Korea are working closely to analyze the launch, and that so far there have been no reports of damage to aircraft or ships operating nearby. The exclusive economic zone is the band of sea extending up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) from Japan’s coast, where Tokyo controls fishing and resources.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was briefed immediately and gave three instructions: gather and analyze information and keep the public quickly and accurately informed, thoroughly confirm the safety of aircraft and ships, and prepare for any contingency. The government’s North Korea task force at the prime minister’s crisis management center pulled together information from ministries and convened an emergency team to discuss the response.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi then ordered the Self-Defense Forces to work closely with the United States and South Korea on collecting and analyzing information and to keep up surveillance in case of further developments. The Japanese government said North Korea’s repeated missile launches threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region and the international community, and it promised to release more details as they become available.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff gave a fuller picture, saying North Korea fired around 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area on its east coast toward the sea at about 12:30 p.m., SBS reported. Neither government has yet said how far the missiles flew or how high they climbed, and North Korean state media had not commented on the launch by Thursday afternoon.

The launch is North Korea’s first ballistic missile firing in 17 days and follows a busy October. On Oct. 3, it fired a missile from near its east coast that Japan’s Defense Ministry said flew about 680 km (420 miles) at a peak altitude of about 90 km (56 miles) before landing outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. On Oct. 12, Pyongyang fired several ballistic missiles from near its capital, some of which flew more than 900 km (560 miles), and later called them tactical ballistic missiles, short-range weapons meant for battlefield targets. Two days later, it test-fired two types of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles in the sea east of the peninsula.

The launches come as tensions remain high along the inter-Korean border. In early October, South Korea and the U.S.-led United Nations Command concluded that North Korea had deliberately planted the mines that wounded three South Korean soldiers inside the Demilitarized Zone on Sept. 21. South Korea’s National Security Office held an emergency meeting after Thursday’s launch and said the repeated ballistic missile firings violate United Nations Security Council resolutions, which bar North Korea from testing ballistic missiles.