A United States Air Base in Japan was told to find shelter on Friday morning local time after North Korea launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile at the island.
The order came as Japan and South Korea both detected the missile, but Misawa Air Base gave the all-clear on the base a short time later, despite the missile still being en route. However, the missile has since fallen on the west side of Japan’s second-largest island of Hokkaido, inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, according to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. No damage has been reported.
UPDATE: Misawa Air Base issues all-clear for the facility after North Korean missile launch, although the missile itself is still in the air https://t.co/H7Vm0gyZAH
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The launch is the second missile launch from North Korea this week after it launched a short-range missile on Thursday. The country had begun testing its missiles earlier this month but paused for about a week before Thursday’s test.
“North Korea has been repeatedly firing missiles this year at an unprecedented frequency and is significantly escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said, according to the Associated Press.
The ICBM on Friday was suspected of being a long-range missile that could potentially reach the United States. The tests are also seen as a protest and warning to the U.S. as it builds its security relationship with South Korea and Japan on the sidelines of a summit in Cambodia. Previous tests have already proven that older models of the ICBM have the capability to reach the U.S. mainland.
North Korea’s foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, has additionally threatened to launch “fiercer” military responses to the trilateral alliance between South Korea, Japan, and the U.S., which condemned North Korea’s missile tests. However, she did not say what action the country would take.
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In a statement from the summit, President Joe Biden said Japan and South Korea are both critical allies and that for years, the “countries have been engaged in trilateral cooperation out of a shared concern for the nuclear and missile threats North Korea poses to our people. And North Korea continues provocation — provocative behavior. This partnership is even more important than it’s ever been.”
The U.S. remains committed to the defense of South Korea and Japan, according to a statement from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command following the first missile test.
