Japan urges citizens to take shelter after North Korean missile launch

• This news is breaking: more to follow 

Japan urged citizens to shelter from a North Korean missile launch today, issuing an emergency warning for residents in the south of the country.

The alert covering Okinawa prefecture has since been lifted as the Japanese government claimed the missile appears to have flown towards the Pacific Ocean.

‘Missile passed. Missile passed. The missile is believed to have passed into the Pacific Ocean around 22:55 (1355 GMT). The call for evacuation is being cancelled,’ the office of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said via X, formerly known as Twitter. 

South Korea’s military said that the rocket was believed to be carrying a spy satellite and was launched toward the south.

North Korea had pre-emptively notified Japan on Tuesday that it planned to launch a satellite between Wednesday and December 1 – but without specifics, and in breach of U.N. resolutions.

It is North Korea’s third such attempt in recent months, following two failed attempts earlier this year.

A TV shows a J-Alert or National Early Warning System to the Japanese residents, Tuesday, November 21, 2023, in Tokyo. Japanese government says North Korea has fired a missile

Officials in South Korea had warned in recent days that its neighbour in the North appeared set to attempt a launch again soon.

Japan’s Coast Guard said today that North Korea had given notice of the launch in the direction of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. 

South Korea’s state maritime safety agency issued a warning to vessels of the planned launch for the same areas as previous launches.

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