<Anchor>

As time went by, Japan's response was remarkably different on this issue. First, we announced earlier than our military that North Korea shot missiles. Our defense minister, the Defense Minister, said North Korea wanted to continue cooperation between the two countries, assessing that North Korea was aiming for the gap and gap between them.

Tokyo correspondent Yu Sung-jae analyzed the meaning of words and actions.

<Reporter>

Japan's Kyodo News quoted the Japanese government today (7:24) as saying North Korea may have launched a ballistic missile.

Japan announced the launch 12 minutes earlier than our military announcement at 7:36.

It was quite unusual for Japan to announce North Korean launches over South Korea, the first time this year.

Prime Minister SNS also announced that Prime Minister Abe, who is visiting France, ordered a response such as collecting information at 6:52 am.

The rapid movement of the Japanese government is analyzed to show to Japan that South Korea's decision to end the ROK-Japan Military Information Protection Agreement has no problem in collecting information on North Korea.

The Iwaya Defense Minister's decision to end the agreement did not affect Japan's collection of information, but reiterated the need for ROK-Japan information cooperation.

[IWAYA / Japan Defense Award: North Korea will also be watching the situation in the region carefully. I think I stabbed the gap.]

Some analyze today that Japan knew earlier than usual because of the high altitude of the North Korean projectile.

Meanwhile, the Blue House says the government has never received information on North Korea's missile launches from Japan and used it for analysis.

(Video coverage: Moon Hyun Jin, Video editing: Choi Hye Young)