North Korea fires missile over Japan in ‘unprecedented threat’

<p>Nuclear-armed North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday in a major escalation by Pyongyang amid tensions over its weapons ambitions.&nbsp;</p><p>Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it was an "unprecedented, serious and grave threat" and called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting.&nbsp;</p><p>The last time a North Korean rocket overflew Japan was in 2009, when Pyongyang said it was satellite launch. Washington, Seoul and Tokyo believed it was a clandestine test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).&nbsp;</p><p>Pyongyang last month carried out two overt ICBM tests that appeared to bring much of the US mainland within reach for the first time and heightened strains in the region.&nbsp;</p><p>At the time, US President Donald Trump issued an apocalyptic warning of raining "fire and fury" on the North, saying Washington's weapons were "locked and loaded", while Pyongyang threatened to fire a salvo of missiles over Japan towards the US territory of Guam.&nbsp;</p><p>The latest missile was launched at around 2057 GMT Monday from Sunan, near Pyongyang, travelling "over Japan", the South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.&nbsp;</p><p>It flew around 2,700 kilometres (1,700 miles) at a maximum altitude of around 550 kilometres.&nbsp;</p><p>Guam is about 3,500 kilometres from North Korea -- although the missile was fired in an easterly direction and not towards the US outpost, home to 160,000 people and host to major military facilities.&nbsp;</p><p>Abe said the overflight was an "outrageous act" that "greatly damages regional peace and security", telling reporters Tokyo had protested to Pyongyang. In a 40-minute telephone call with Trump, he said, the two allies had agreed to "further strengthen pressure against North Korea".&nbsp;</p><p>The UN Security Council imposed a seventh set of sanctions on Pyongyang earlier this month, tightening restrictions on its exports, and investments into the North.&nbsp;</p><p>The US confirmed the launch and the overflight of Japan, with Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning saying the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined it "did not pose a threat to North America".&nbsp;</p><p>- 'Not a chicken' -&nbsp;</p><p>Any launch towards Guam would have to pass over the Asian island nation first and analysts said Tuesday's overflight presents a major challenge to both Tokyo and Washington.&nbsp;</p><p>...</p><p>When it carried out its ICBM tests last month -- which leader Kim Jong-Un described as a "gift" to "American bastards" -- it fired them on lofted trajectories that avoided Japan.&nbsp;</p><p>Before 2009, the only time it had traversed Japanese airspace was in 1998, in what it also claimed it was a space launch. The US said it was a Taepodong-1 missile.&nbsp;</p><p>After Pyongyang appeared to postpone the Guam scheme, Trump told a rally in Phoenix that Kim was "starting to respect us".&nbsp;</p><p>As a result, Cha Du-Hyeogn of the Asan Institute of Policy Studies in Seoul, told AFP: "It looked like North Korea backed off from a game of chicken.&nbsp;</p><p>"But Pyongyang is showing that is not how it is," he said. "That it is not a chicken, it has not backed off and that Washington is the one who is bluffing with no concrete plan."&nbsp;</p><p>- 'Horrible day' -&nbsp;</p><p>Japan has in the past vowed to shoot down North Korean missiles or rockets that threaten to hit its territory.&nbsp;</p><p>But it made no attempt to do so on Tuesday -- when the missile flew over the country for two minutes -- with defence minister Itsunori Onodera saying generals believed it "posed no risk of flying into our country".&nbsp;</p><p>But as a precaution, millions of residents in northern Japan received an early morning text message from the government warning them to take cover.&nbsp;</p><p>When the North sent a missile into Japan's exclusive economic zone -- waters extending 200 nautical miles from its coast -- last year it only triggered protests and anger, and it subsequently carried out several similar launches.&nbsp;</p><p>"Today is really quite a horrible day for Japan," security commentator Ankit Panda said on Twitter following Tuesday's overflight.&nbsp;</p><p>"If North Korea assesses the costs of overflying Japan to be *anything* but intolerable, we'll see more of these kinds of tests."&nbsp;</p><p>Pyongyang says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself against the US, and the firing comes during the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian South Korean-US joint military exercise, which the North always condemns as rehearsals for invasion.&nbsp;</p><p>Under Kim, Pyongyang has made rapid strides in its ballistic missile technology, revealing significant technological advances and ambitions last week.&nbsp;</p><p>Analysts said pictures of a visit by Kim to the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defence Science showed a wound-filament rocket motor casing -- much lighter than metal, giving a longer range and the ability to carry a heavier payload.&nbsp;</p><p>Other images included missile schematics and what appeared to be production processes, with the official KCNA news agency saying the nosecon.</p><p><span style="line-height: 18.5714px;">(AFP)</span><br></p>