Another Day, Another Potential Nuclear War By James Reed
One has the feeling that the world is in a pressure cooker, and that at some point soon, something will blow. Well, maybe everything is going to blow. Take North Korea firing a missile right over japan for example. Couldn’t they have shot it down? I suppose there will be plenty more coming to get that down to pat.
“North Korea has fired an unidentified ballistic missile over Japan, prompting a warning for residents to take cover and a temporary suspension of train operations in the northern part of the country.
The Japanese government warned citizens to take cover as the missile appeared to have flown over and past its territory early Tuesday before falling into the Pacific Ocean.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch was made on Tuesday morning but gave no further details like how far the weapon flew.
The launch is the latest weapons test by North Korea in an apparent response to military drills between South Korea and the United States.
North Korea views such drills as an invasion rehearsal, though Seoul and Washington say they are defensive in nature.
'North Korea appears to have launched a missile,' the Japanese government said in an alert issued on Tuesday at 7.29am local time. 'Please evacuate into buildings or underground.'
National broadcaster NHK said the alert was in effect for two northern regions of the country, where the missile was believed to be headed.
Around 8am, the prime minister's office then tweeted that 'a projectile that appears to be a North Korean ballistic missile has likely flown over Japan'.
In a statement, Japan's coastguard said the missile appeared to have already landed in the sea and warned vessels not to approach any falling objects.
'North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile east,' South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, without giving further details.
TV Asahi, citing an unnamed government source, said North Korea might have fired an intercontinental ballistic missile and it fell into the sea some 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from Japan.
The latest launch was Pyongyang's fifth in 10 days, amid military muscle-flexing by the United States and South Korea, which staged trilateral anti-submarine exercises last week with Japanese naval forces.
South Korea staged its own show of advanced weaponry on Saturday to mark its Armed Forces Day, including multiple rocket launchers, ballistic missiles, main battle tanks, drones and F-35 fighters.
The test prompted East Japan Railway Co to suspend its train operations in the northern regions, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.
The North has completed preparations for a nuclear test, which it might look to undertake sometime between China's Communist Party Congress this month and US mid-term elections in November, South Korean lawmakers said last week.”
Comments