SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — The South Korean news agency says North Korea fired an unidentified missile on Tuesday.

Yonhap said the missile was fired into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.

North Korea has conducted a series of test launches to develop its missile capability and recently threatened to send missiles over western Japan and into waters near the U.S. territory of Guam.

Japan’s military is practicing deploying anti-missile batteries at three U.S. bases in Japan.

The U.S. military says the drills will test the ability of Japanese and U.S. forces to work together and assess firing locations at the bases. They will also allow Japan to practice rapid deployment of its PAC-3 anti-missile system.</s>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for more weapons tests targeting the Pacific Ocean, Pyongyang announced Wednesday, a day after his nation for the first time flew a ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload over Japan.

Tuesday’s aggressive missile launch — likely the longest ever from North Korea — over the territory of a close U.S. ally sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said it was a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile that the North first successfully tested in May and threatened to fire into waters near Guam earlier this month.

Kim expressed “great satisfaction” over the launch that he called a “meaningful prelude” to containing Guam, which is home to key U.S. military bases that North Korea finds threatening, the agency said. He also said the country will continue to watch “U.S. demeanors” before it decides on future actions.

Kim also said it’s “necessary to positively push forward the work for putting the strategic force on a modern basis by conducting more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future.”

The launch seemed designed to show that North Korea can back up a threat to target the U.S. territory of Guam, if it chooses to do so, while also establishing a potentially dangerous precedent that could see future missiles flying over Japan.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile traveled around 2,700 kilometers (1,677 miles) and reached a maximum height of 550 kilometers (341 miles) as it flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

The KCNA said the flight test was a countermeasure to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea that run through Thursday. Pyongyang views the annual war games between the allies as invasion rehearsals.

In a statement, U.S. President Donald Trump said North Korea had signaled its “contempt for its neighbors” and that “all options are on the table” in terms of a U.S. response.

Any new test worries Washington and its allies because it presumably puts North Korea a step closer to its goal of an arsenal of nuclear missiles that can reliably target the United States. Tuesday’s test, however, looks especially aggressive to Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.

North Korea has conducted launches at an unusually fast pace this year — 13 times, Seoul says — and some analysts believe it could have viable long-range nuclear missiles before the end of Trump’s first term in early 2021.

Seoul says that while North Korea has twice before fired rockets it said were carrying satellites over Japan — in 1998 and 2009 — it has never before used a ballistic missile, which is unambiguously designed for military strikes.

North Korea also chose not to fire its most recent missile at a lofted angle, as it did in previous launches to avoid other countries, and Seoul’s spy service said the North launched from an unusual spot: the international airport in its capital, Pyongyang.

Some outside observers said launching a road-mobile missile from an airport runway could demonstrate the North’s ability to fire its missiles from anywhere in the country.

The launch is also another rebuke to Trump, who suggested last week that his tough approach to North Korea, which included threats to unleash “fire and fury,” meant Kim “is starting to respect us.”

Tuesday’s missile landed nowhere near Guam, but firing a Hwasong-12 so soon after the threat may be a way for North Korea to show it could follow through if it chose to do so. Guam is 3,400 kilometers (2,110 miles) away from North Korea, but South Korea’s military said the North may have fired the missile at a shorter range.

North Korea will no doubt be watching the world’s reaction to see if it can use Tuesday’s flight over Japan as a precedent for future launches.

Trump said in his statement that “threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world” and that “all options are on the table.”

Japanese officials made their usual strongly worded condemnations of the launch.

“We will do our utmost to protect people’s lives,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. “This reckless act of launching a missile that flies over our country is an unprecedented, serious and important threat.”

The launch was also condemned by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and a number of other countries.

Tokyo said there was no reported damage from the missile. Residents on Hokkaido were warned of a North Korean missile launch by an alert on their cellphones, with loud alarms and an email that told people to stay indoors. Speakers broadcast an alert saying “missile is passing, missile is passing.”

Tuesday’s launch came days after North Korea fired what was assessed as three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, and a month after its second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts say could reach deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.

In an unusual move, the military in Seoul released videos of three South Korean missile tests conducted last week. They showed two types of new missiles with ranges of 800 kilometers (500 miles) and 500 kilometers (310 miles) being fired from truck-mounted launchers.

South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development said the launches represented the last flight test for the longer-range missile before it is operationally deployed. Such missiles, which would be the latest additions to South Korea’s Hyumoo family of missiles, are considered key components of the so-called “kill chain” pre-emptive strike capability that South Korea is pursuing to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat.

South Korea also said its air force conducted a live-fire drill involving four F-15 fighter jets dropping eight MK-84 bombs that accurately hit targets at a military field near the country’s eastern coast. Yoon Young-chan, chief press secretary of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said the exercise was conducted after Moon directed the military to “display a strong capability to punish” North Korea if need be.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>North Korea on Tuesday fired a missile over Japan which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called the “most serious and grave ever” threat to the country, the media reported.

The missile was fired just before 6 a.m. in Japan. The launch set off warnings in the northern part of the country urging people to seek shelter, reports CNN.

It flew over Erimomisaki, on the northern island of Hokkaido, and broke into three pieces before falling into the Pacific Ocean, about 1,180 km off the Japanese coast.

The missile was in flight for about 14 minutes, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at an emergency press conference.

“There is no immediate report of the fallen objects and no damage to the ships and aircraft,” he added.

Pentagon spokesman US Army Col. Rob Manning said the launch did not pose an immediate threat to North America.

“We have fully grasped the movement of the missile immediately after their launch and have been taking every possible effort to protect the lives of people,” he said, adding “It is a serious and grave threat which impairs the safety and peace of the region.”

Abe told the media that he had a 40-minute phone call with US President Donald Trump to discuss the missile launch.

The two countries have requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council, according to Japan’s ambassador to the UN, Koro Bessho.

“The international community has to put more pressure on North Korea,” CNN quoted Ambassador Bessho as saying.

South Korea responded by conducting a bombing drill at 9.30 a.m., to test its “capability to destroy the North Korean leadership” in cases of emergency, a Defence Ministry official told CNN.

Yoon Young-chan, the head of South Korea’s Presidential Office Public Affairs Office, told reporters that Ffur F-15K fighter jets dropped eight one-tonne MK-84 bombs at a shooting range.

The operation was meant “to showcase a strong punishment capability against the North”, he said.

Tuesday’s launch comes just three days after Pyongyang test-fired three short-range ballistic missiles from Kangwon province — of the three, one failed.

Notably, however, it is the the first time the country has successfully fired a missile over Japan since 1998, when it sent a satellite launch vehicle over the country.</s>WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump said “all options are on the table” after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan in an especially aggressive test-flight that rattled an already anxious region.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile traveled about 1,677 miles and reached a maximum height of 341 miles as it flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, before plunging into the northern Pacific Ocean.

“The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior. “Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table.”</s>North Korea launched a ballistic missile Tuesday that flew over Japan, escalating already heightened tensions with the United States and its allies over its nuclear and missile weapons development, the Pentagon said.

The Japanese government issued an immediate rebuke. At one point, residents in several prefectures in northern regions of Japan were told to take cover, according to the Washington Post.

"We assess North Korea conducted a missile launch within the last 90 minutes," the Pentagon said. "We can confirm that the missile launched by North Korea flew over Japan. We are still in the process of assessing this launch. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America."

It added, "We are working closely with Pacific Command, Strategic Command and NORAD and will provide an update as soon as possible."

Tuesday's launch is the second time that North Korea has fired a projectile over Japan. On Sept. 1, 1998, the north fired a Daepodong-1 rocket that passed without permission through Japanese airspace. The rocket splashed down into the ocean.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were analyzing the launch and didn’t immediately confirm how far the projectile traveled and where it landed.

Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, said that he would take all measures necessary to protect the Japanese republic, Britain's Telegraph reported.

"We will make utmost efforts to firmly protect the lives of the people," Abe told reporters in brief remarks as he entered his office for emergency meetings on the missile firing.

The launch comes days after the North fired what was assessed as three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea and a month after its second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts say could reach deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.

The North has also threatened to lob some of its missiles toward Guam and expressed anger over the ongoing annual war games between the United States and South Korea.</s>"This outrageous action ... is an unprecedented, grave and serious threat," says Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

U.K. stocks dropped sharply Tuesday, joining a selloff in European markets after North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan, reigniting tensions that sent investors seeking assets seen as less risky.

The FTSE 100 index fell 1.2% to 7,311.68, moving their lowest since Aug. 11, FactSet data showed. No sector moved higher. Trading in the U.K. was closed Monday for the August Bank Holiday.

Less than 10 components on the London benchmark rose, and those advancers were led by miners Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS.LN) and Fresnillo PLC (FRES.LN) as gold shot above $1,300 an ounce to around an 11-month high.

The moves came after Pyongyang launched a missile (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/north-koreas-outrageous-missile-launch-over-japan-inflames-tensions-again-2017-08-29) early Tuesday that passed over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific Ocean. It was the first missile fired over the main lands of Japan since 2009.

"This has understandably seen an overnight preference for safe havens such as gold, the Swiss franc, Japanese yen and bonds, at the expense of equities," said Accendo Markets head of research Mike van Dulken, adding that the missile launch undermines attempts by the U.S. to negotiate with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un.

"Beware the impact of additional [U.S. dollar] weakness (2.5 year lows), which could weigh on both the U.K. FTSE and German DAX by way of a stronger [pound] and [euro]," he said.

The pound bought $1.2954, compared with $1.2933 late Monday in New York. A stronger pound can hurt shares of multinational companies as they make the bulk of their sales and earnings overseas. Shares of drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK.LN) fell 1.8% and British American Tobacco PLC (BATS.LN) gave up 1.6%.

The euro , meanwhile, rose above $1.20 for the first time since January 2015. The Stoxx Europe 600 slid more than 1% to a six-month low.

Economic data: U.K. house prices fell 0.1% on the month in August (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-home-prices-reverse-monthly-rise-nationwide-2017-08-29), following a modest increase the previous month, according to Nationwide figures released Tuesday.</s>SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired a ballistic missile early Tuesday that soared over Japan, the South Korean military said.

It was the second time in four days that the North Korean authorities, defying an escalation in international sanctions and warnings from President Trump, had launched a missile. Three short-range missiles were launched on Saturday.

The missile fired on Tuesday took off from near Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and flew to the east, according to the South Korean military, which added that officials were analyzing the data to determine what type of missile was launched.

The Japanese government sent a text alert to citizens about the launch and advised them to take protective cover.</s>The despot leader oversaw an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch on Tuesday which fired over Japan. It comes as World War 3 fears heighten and Japan earlier issued a warning telling citizens in Hokkaido to take shelter in "a sturdy building or basement”. Tuesday's missile was launched from Sunan, close to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, and flew around 1,680 miles (2,700km) before it broke into three pieces and landed in the sea around 733miles (1,180km) off the east coast of Japan. Despite breaking to pieces, Kim Jong-un claimed the missile was a warning to the US and South Korea over their “provocative” military drills.

He added that the launch of the Hwasong-12 missile was also a "preclude" to containing the US territory of Guam as North Korea earlier warned it would fire missiles around the island. Experts believe the latest rocket is the first missile from North Korea which is powerful enough to potentially carry a nuclear warhead. Kim Jong-un vowed his recent missile launches were "the first step of the military operation of the Korean People's Army in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam”. He added that it is a "curtain-raiser of its resolute countermeasures" against the Seoul-Washington drills. Donald Trump reiterated that all options were still on the table for dealing with North Korea’s threats as he added the world had received Kim Jong-un’s message "loud and clear". Speaking after the missile launch, the US President said: "Threatening and destabilising actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table.”

Tuesday's launch comes after the rogue state fired three missiles on Saturday towards the Sea of Japan, whcih either failed in flight or exploded almost immediately. The US revealed its army is ready to attack North Korea if necessary with additional bombers stationed in its military bases in Guam. South Korean President Moon Jae-in also ordered a show of "overwhelming" force in response to the launch and four South Korean jets staged a live bombing drill on Tuesday. Mr Moon’s chief press secretary, Yoon Young-chan, confirmed the drill was ordered by the South Korean military after an urgent National Security Council meeting.

He added: “We assessed North Korea’s provocations as extremely severe and decided to maintain a vigilant posture in preparation for the possibility of additional provocations by North Korea.” North Korea’s ambassador to the UN claims his country has “every reason” to continue ramping up war tensions as he accused the US of driving the Korean peninsula towards an "explosion". The secretive state earlier this month revealed plans to launch four IRBMs towards US-territory Guam.</s>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for more weapons launches targeting the Pacific Ocean to advance his country's ability to contain Guam, state media said Wednesday, a day after Pyongyang for the first time flew a ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload over Japan.

Tuesday's aggressive missile launch — likely the longest ever from North Korea — over a close U.S. ally sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct annual military drills. The Korean Central News Agency said the launch was a "muscle-flexing" countermeasure to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint exercises that conclude Thursday. Pyongyang views the drills as invasion rehearsals and often conducts weapons tests and escalates its rhetoric when they are held.

The KCNA report said the missile was an intermediate-range Hwasong-12, which the North first successfully tested in May and threatened to fire into waters near Guam earlier this month.

Kim expressed "great satisfaction" over the launch that he called a "meaningful prelude" to containing Guam and said North Korea would continue to watch the U.S. demeanor before it decides future actions, KCNA said. The U.S. territory is home to key U.S. military bases that North Korea finds threatening.

Kim also said it's "necessary to positively push forward the work for putting the strategic force on a modern basis by conducting more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future."

The launch seemed designed to show that North Korea can back up a threat to target Guam, if it chooses to do so, while also establishing a potentially dangerous precedent that could see future missiles flying over Japan.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile traveled around 2,700 kilometers (1,677 miles) and reached a maximum height of 550 kilometers (341 miles) as it flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

President Donald Trump said North Korea had signaled its "contempt for its neighbors" and that "all options are on the table" in terms of a U.S. response. Trump said in his statement that "threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world."

The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned the launch, which came less than a month after the council imposed its toughest-yet sanctions on North Korea. The statement released after a meeting Tuesday evening in New York doesn't mention any potential new sanctions but calls for strict implementation of existing ones.

Any new test worries Washington and its allies because it presumably puts North Korea a step closer to its goal of an arsenal of nuclear missiles that can reliably target the United States. Tuesday's test, however, looks especially aggressive to Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.

North Korea has conducted launches at an unusually fast pace this year — 13 times, Seoul says — and some analysts believe it could have viable long-range nuclear missiles before the end of Trump's first term in early 2021.

Seoul says that while North Korea has twice before fired rockets it said were carrying satellites over Japan — in 1998 and 2009 — it has never before used a ballistic missile, which is unambiguously designed for military strikes.

North Korea also chose not to fire its most recent missile at a lofted angle, as it did in previous launches to avoid other countries, and Seoul's spy service said the North launched from an unusual spot: the international airport in its capital, Pyongyang. The North still claimed on Wednesday that its recent launch "had no impact on the security of the neighboring countries."

Some outside observers said launching a road-mobile missile from an airport runway could demonstrate the North's ability to fire its missiles from anywhere in the country.

The launch is also another rebuke to Trump, who suggested last week that his tough approach to North Korea, which included threats to unleash "fire and fury," meant Kim "is starting to respect us."

Tuesday's missile landed nowhere near Guam, but firing a Hwasong-12 so soon after the threat may be a way for North Korea to show it could follow through if it chose to do so. Guam is 3,400 kilometers (2,110 miles) away from North Korea, but South Korea's military said the North may have fired the missile at a shorter range.

Guam's civil defense office said the missile was determined to not be a threat. Residents said they were not worried, for now. Eddie Cruz, 60, said he is concerned that with each missile launch, North Korea is getting better. "They're practicing, and that's exactly what I'm worried about," he said.

North Korea will no doubt be watching the world's reaction to see if it can use the same flight path for future launches.

Japanese officials made their usual strongly worded condemnations of the launch.

"We will do our utmost to protect people's lives," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. "This reckless act of launching a missile that flies over our country is an unprecedented, serious and important threat."

Tokyo said there was no reported damage from the missile. Residents on Hokkaido were warned by loudspeakers, phone alerts and an email that told them to stay indoors.

The launch was also condemned by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and a number of other countries.

Tuesday's launch came days after North Korea fired what was assessed as three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, and a month after its second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts say could reach deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.

In an unusual move, the South Korean military released videos of missile tests it conducted last week. They showed two types of new missiles with ranges of 800 kilometers (500 miles) and 500 kilometers (310 miles) being fired from truck-mounted launchers.

South Korea's Agency for Defense Development said the launches represented the last flight test for the longer-range missile before it is operationally deployed. Such missiles, which would be the latest additions to South Korea's Hyumoo family of missiles, are considered key components of the so-called "kill chain" pre-emptive strike capability that South Korea is pursuing to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threat.

South Korea also said its air force conducted a live-fire drill involving four F-15 fighter jets dropping eight MK-84 bombs that accurately hit targets at a military field near the country's eastern coast. Yoon Young-chan, chief press secretary of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said the exercise was conducted after Moon directed the military to "display a strong capability to punish" North Korea if need be.

Associated Press writers Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo, Jennifer Peltz at the United Nations and Grace Garces Bordallo in Hagatna, Guam, contributed to this report.</s>President Donald Trump says “all options are on the table” after North Korea launched ballistic missiles over Japan.

Trump said in a written statement Tuesday that “threatening and destabilizing actions” only increase North Korea’s isolation in the region and around the world.

The president said North Korea’s actions show “contempt for its neighbors” and that “all options are on the table” in terms of a U.S. response.

In a first, North Korea on Tuesday fired a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload that flew over U.S. ally Japan and splashed into the northern Pacific Ocean.
North Korea fires a Hwasong-12 ballistic missile which flies 2,700 kilometres (1,700 mi), passing over Hokkaido, northern Japan, prompting the activation of the nationwide J-Alert warning system. This is first time since 2009 that a North Korean missile has passed over Japanese territory.