Evacuation alert in parts of Japan and bullet trains halted after North Korea fires missiles

North Korea has fired a number of missiles, including what is thought to have been an intercontinental ballistic missile that prompted an evacuation warning for parts of Japan.

One of the missiles reached an altitude of 1,200 miles and traveled about 460 miles, Japan’s defense minister Yasukazu Hamada said.

The flight pattern – a “lofted trajectory” – sees a missile fired high into space to avoid flying over neighboring countries.

But the Japanese military lost track of the suspected ICBM over the water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, with Hamada correcting an earlier report that it had flown over Japan.

South Korea said it was likely to have failed mid-flight.

Officials in Seoul said the first missile was launched from near the North Korean capital Pyongyang, with a second and third about an hour later from Kaechon, north of Pyongyang.

After the first launch, the office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida broadcast alerts on TV, radio, mobile phones and loudspeakers via the J-Alert Emergency Broadcasting System.

Agencies