Sign of a certain feverishness around the intensification of North Korea’s activities in the military field, Japan issued Thursday, November 3 an unfounded alert about a North Korean missile which would have passed over the ‘archipelago. It was a mistake: the machine left from the vicinity of Pyongyang would have been damaged in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), before reaching the archipelago.
The J-Alert system, which transmits alerts for earthquakes or other tsunamis, and each time a missile threatens to reach Japanese territory or pass over it, was activated at 8 a.m. Residents of Miyagi prefectures , Yamagata and Niigata (Northeast), presumed to be on the route of the missile, were awakened on this holiday – dedicated to culture – by a message telling them that “The missile would have passed in the Pacific Ocean around 7:48 a.m. If you find anything suspicious, do not go near it and contact the police or the fire department immediately”. The alert was also sent to the inhabitants of Tokyo. She was lifted about ten minutes later.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was quick to call for “ensure the safety of aircraft and ships” and to “to be ready for any eventuality”. It urgently convened its National Security Council.
But it was a false alarm. According to the South Korean military, North Korea fired three missiles. One of them could be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), thus having the potential to pass over Japan. It would have left from the Sunan area, near Pyongyang, at 7:40 a.m. The other two would be short-range ballistic models. They would have taken off from Kaechon in the province of South Pyongan (west of the country) at 8:39 a.m. The three would have fallen east of the peninsula. According to the Japanese military, the alleged ICBM reached an altitude of 2,000 kilometers and traveled 750 km.
Threat of a seventh nuclear test
“The J-Alert system was activated because the missile could fly over the Japanese archipelago. After checking, it turned out that the missile did not make it and fell in the Sea of Japan. We are continuing our analyses”, justified the Japanese Minister of Defense, Yasukazu Hamada, while the J-Alert system is the subject of criticism on its operation. The false alarm did not prevent Mr. Kishida from deploring the last launches of the missiles whose “continuous shooting” represent “a contempt and are intolerable”.
A North Korean Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) flew over Japan on Oct. 4 for the first time since 2017. The Nov. 3 firings followed those of 23 short-range missiles the day before. , still via Pyongyang. Unprecedented since the Korean War (1950-1953), one of these missiles would have fallen less than 60 km from the South Korean coast, near the “northern boundary line” (LLN), which constitutes the de facto maritime border between the two countries but whose route remains disputed. South Korean President Yoon Seok-youl has denounced a “de facto territorial invasion” and ordered a response. Southern fighters fired three air-to-surface missiles.
These developments come as the threat of a seventh nuclear test by North Korea still looms. The South Korean secret services are expecting him before November 8, the day of the midterm elections in the United States.
Tensions are expected to continue: North Korea claims that its activities respond to the massive maneuvers carried out by the Americans, the South Koreans and even the Japanese, which it considers a repetition of the invasion of its territory. After the “Ulchi Freedom Shield” exercises at the end of August and those dubbed “Hoguk” at the end of October, Americans and South Koreans are carrying out the “Vigilance Storm” maneuvers until November 4, the largest ever organized by the two countries, with 240 combat aircraft and several thousand soldiers mobilized.
The situation is expected to dominate South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup’s exchanges with his American interlocutors during the Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) scheduled for November 3 in Washington, an annual forum bringing together Americans and South -Koreans.