North Korea Fires Missile Over Japan, sets off Alarms and Warnings of Evacuation

It was early in the morning on Tuesday when it was announced that North Korea had launched a missile that flew directly over the northern islands of Japan. In response to this weapons test, Japan raised alarms through cell phones, radios, public speakers, and more, warning its residents that evacuation may be necessary.

This weapons test is one of many that North Korea has carried out during the year of 2022 alone. Since the month of January, 23 different missile launches have been reported, all carried out by North Korea. This all comes as tensions continue to rise between UN nations and North Korea, as well as countries like Russia and China.

While action is being considered against the eastern nation, the UN will likely find it hard to impose sanctions, or take more aggressive action. This is due to the veto power held by both Russia and China in the UN. In fact, sanction efforts have already been halted in the year of 2022 because Russia and China refused to get on board.

Despite those difficulties, countries including the US, South Korea, and Japan are showing that they are willing to take action if necessary. Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un made comments to his parliament saying that the country would never give up their nuclear weapons as long as the US and South Korea continued their joint military drills. In response, the United States and South Korea ramped up their drills off the coast of South Korea. Japan has also joined these military drills, with the three countries running drills both on the water and in the air.

All while these joint drills are being run, the hope is to avoid violent conflict. The United States has continued to say that they would be willing to return to the table for negotiations. Diplomacy, at least for the time being, remains the key goal for the UN and the US.

This latest missile launched by North Korea traveled 2,800 miles and reportedly reached an altitude of 702 miles. It landed 22 minutes after launch east of Japan’s isolated region.

This launch is the first by North Korea that has flown over Japan since 2017, when tensions were once again high between North Korea and the United States. At the time, President Trump had warned North Korea of the consequences if it continued with its tests. In response, North Korea launched a missile that landed near Guam, a small American territory in the eastern global region. North Korea had also promised at the time that it possessed an intercontinental missile that could carry a nuclear warhead to the mainland United States.

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