Day after 'sinking' threat, North Korea fires second ballistic missile over Japan

UN Security Council has called for an emergency meeting Friday on North Korea missile launch

Kim Jong Un inspects the long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong 12 (File photo - Reuters)

Tokyo: North Korea on Friday fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the second time within a span of a month. The missile flew over Japan`s northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean, South Korean and Japanese officials said.

The move comes a day Pyongyang threatened that the four main Japanese islands "should be sunken into the sea" with its nuclear bomb and the United States to "ashes and darkness" for supporting a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution imposing new sanctions against it for its September 3 nuclear test, its most powerful by far.

The missile flew over Japan, landing in the Pacific about 2,000 km (1,240 miles) east of Hokkaido, Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters in a hastily organised media conference, reported Reuters.

"These repeated provocations on the part of North Korea are unpermissible and we protest in the strongest words," Suga said.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said that Japan would "never tolerate" what he called North Korea`s "dangerous provocative action that threatens world peace" following a missile launch over his country.

"We can never tolerate that North Korea trampled on the international community`s strong, united resolve toward peace that has been shown in UN resolutions and went ahead again with this outrageous act," Abe told reporters.

Abe, who was in India on Thursday, launch the bullet train project with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad.

On Thursday, the UNSC imposed the eighth set of sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile and atomic weapons programs.

US President Donald Trump has been briefed on North Korea's recent missile attack.

"Initial assessment indicates the launch of an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM)," the US Pacific Command said in a statement, reported AFP.

"The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined this ballistic missile did not pose a threat to North America," it said. "US Pacific Command determined this ballistic missile did not pose a threat to Guam."

President Trump on Thursday said he would visit Japan, South Korea, China and Vietman in November.

The unidentified missile, fired from near Pyongyang, reached an altitude of about 770 km (480 miles) and flew 3,700 km (2,300 miles), according to South Korea`s military - far enough to reach the US Pacific territory of Guam.

The UNSC will hold an emergency meeting on Friday concerning North Korea`s latest missile launch over Japan, the council presidency announced.

The United States and Japan requested the meeting, which will be held at 3 pm (1900 GMT), according to the Ethopian council presidency. The meeting will be closed-door, diplomats said.

Last month, North Korea fired a missile from a similar area near the capital Pyongyang that also flew over Hokkaido into the ocean.

Meanwhile, South Korea said it had fired a missile test into the sea to coincide with North Korea`s launch. The presidential Blue House has called an urgent National Security Council meeting. Japan also convened a National Security Council meeting.