Two ballistic missiles fired by North Korea fell in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a senior Japanese defense ministry official told reporters on Thursday (June 15th). This zone is a vast maritime space around the Japanese archipelago which extends up to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) beyond Japanese territorial waters.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida clarified that these shots had not caused any damage, while strongly condemning them. These “violate UN Security Council resolutions and constitute a reckless act that aggravates [Pyongyang’s] provocations against the international community,” Kishida told reporters. Japan has “strongly protested” to North Korea, he added.
North Korea regularly launches missiles in the region, systematically condemned by its neighbors, South Korea and Japan, both close allies of the United States. However, it had been several months since North Korean missiles had fallen into the Japanese EEZ.
Two weeks ago, Pyongyang also unsuccessfully attempted to send a “military reconnaissance satellite” into space, which mistakenly triggered missile warnings in Seoul and Okinawa (southwest Japan). ).
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan also arrived in Tokyo on Thursday for talks with his counterparts from Japan, the Philippines and South Korea.
