Residents of the Japanese island of Hokkaido were asked on Thursday morning to immediately seek cover indoors or underground, fearing that a North Korean missile could hit the island.
Both the South Korean General Staff and the Japanese Coast Guard reported on Thursday that North Korea had fired what appears to be a ballistic missile. Furthermore, it was said that it had a direction towards the Sea of Japan, which lies between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
Citizens were warned that the rocket was likely to land near Hokkaido around 8 a.m. Japan time. Hokkaido is home to Sapporo, Japan’s fifth largest city.
– Evacuate immediately. Evacuate immediately, the message said.
Evacuation order cancelled
After just over 20 minutes, the order was cancelled. Japanese authorities initially said the warning system mistakenly assumed the missile would land near the island, but later retracted this.
– We did not correct the information from the alarm system, says government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno. He explains that the missile disappeared from the radar immediately after it was detected, and that further analysis showed that it was not possible that it would hit Japan. The order was thus cancelled, it is further stated.
The South Korean military refers to the rocket launch as a “serious provocation”. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says the country’s National Security Council will meet about the launch.
The type of racket?
South Korea believes North Korea deployed a new type of rocket that is powered by solid fuel. It is potentially a technical breakthrough for Pyongyang’s weapons program, the South Korean General Staff told AFP.
All of North Korea’s known intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are liquid-fueled, and ICBMs that can run on solid fuel have long been at the top of Kim Jong-un’s wish list.
These rockets are easier to store and transport, more stable and faster to prepare for launch. Thus, they are also more difficult to detect and destroy before they reach their target.
At a military parade in Pyongyang in February, the North Koreans displayed a record number of rockets, among them what analysts said at the time could be a new rocket powered by solid fuel.
