▲ Medium-long-range ballistic missile 'Hwasong-12'


The Japanese archipelago was shocked when a medium-range ballistic missile launched by North Korea passed over Japan.



The Japanese government immediately issued an evacuation order following the North Korean missile launch, and trains were temporarily suspended in areas where the missiles passed.



According to the South Korean military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, North Korea fired a medium-range ballistic missile eastward from the Mupyong-ri area in Jagang Province at around 7:23 a.m. today (4th), passed over Japan and fell into the Pacific Ocean.



The Japanese government said a North Korean ballistic missile passed over the airspace near Aomori Prefecture in the northern tip of the Tohoku region.



The Japanese government delivered the missile launch information to local governments and the public in real time through the breaking news of Mnet, a missile launch information delivery system, and the nationwide patrol warning system.



Immediately after the missile launch, a warning was issued to residents of Hokkaido, the northernmost part of the Japanese archipelago and Aomori Prefecture, the northernmost part of Honshu, to "evacuate in a building or underground".



"The missile is expected to pass over Hokkaido and Aomori Prefecture at around 7:29 am and pass into the Pacific Ocean," he said.



It is the first time since September 2017, when a North Korean missile passed through the Japanese archipelago five years ago, that the Japanese government issued an alert regarding North Korean missiles through Mnet and the nationwide patrol warning system.



According to NHK, the operation of some sections of the Tohoku Shinkansen was suspended as a North Korean missile passed over the Tohoku region of Japan, but has now resumed operation.



Residents of the areas where the North Korean missiles passed had to panic.



This is the seventh time a missile launched by North Korea has passed through the Japanese archipelago.



According to NHK, if you look at the past six times that a North Korean missile has passed through the Japanese archipelago, it passed over Japan 7 to 10 minutes after launch.



(Photo=Courtesy of the Korean Central News Agency, Yonhap News)