North Korea Fires Suspected Icbm Into Sea Off Japan South Korean And Japanese Officials Say

  North Korea launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday, the second missile test by the Kim Jong Un regime in two days, in actions that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned as unacceptable.   

  The suspected ICBM was launched around 10:15 am.  local time from the Sunan district of North Korea’s capital Pyongyang, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.   

  Kishida said it likely fell into Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), about 210 kilometers (130 miles) west of the Japanese island of Oshima Oshima, according to the Japanese coast guard.  He did not fly over Japan.   

  “North Korea continues to carry out provocative actions with an unprecedented frequency,” Kishida told reporters on Friday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.   

  “I want to repeat that we cannot accept such actions,” he said.   

  The Japanese government will continue to collect and analyze information and provide timely updates to the public, he added.  So far, there have been no reports of damage to ships at sea, Kishida added.   

  Misawa Air Force Base issued a shelter-in-place alert after the missile was fired, according to US Air Force Col. Greg Hignite, director of public affairs for US forces in Japan.  It has now been lifted and the US military is still analyzing the flight path, he said.   

  The launch comes a day after Pyongyang fired a short-range ballistic missile into waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula and issued a stark warning to the United States of a “tougher military response” to its closer defense ties with South Korea.  and Japan.   

  It is the second suspected test launch of an ICBM this month — a missile launched earlier on Nov. 3 appeared to have failed, a South Korean government source told CNN at the time.   

  North Korea has conducted missile tests on 34 days this year, at times launching multiple missiles in a single day, according to a CNN count.  The tally includes both ballistic and cruise missiles.   

  The aggressive acceleration of weapons tests and rhetoric has raised alarm in the region, with the US, South Korea and Japan responding with missile launches and joint military exercises.   

  This is breaking news.  More to come…