North Korea fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Saturday (February 18th) that apparently fell into Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Tokyo said. According to the spokesperson for the Japanese government, the machine flew “for approximately 66 minutes”covering a distance of about 900 km. “It seems that the ballistic missile fired by North Korea fell in Japan’s EEZ, west of Hokkaido”Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also told reporters, explaining that he had “instructed (…) to inform the population and thoroughly check the security situation”.
The firing, the first in seven weeks, comes days before a joint simulation exercise between Washington and Seoul, which is to be held in the United States to discuss measures to be taken in the event of the use of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang . This exercise will focus on the “joint planning, joint management and joint response with Washington’s nuclear assets” in the event of an attack on Pyongyang with atomic weapons, said an official from the South Korean Ministry of Defense.