North Korea fires ballistic missile over Japan

South Korean and US fighter jets carried out a 'precision bombing drill' in response to the North Korean missile launch, Seoul's military said

North Korea fired a ballistic missile that flew over Japan, prompting condemnation from Tokyo

North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years Tuesday, prompting Tokyo to activate its missile alert system and issue a rare warning for people to take shelter.

The latest launch comes in a record year of sanctions-busting weapons tests by North Korea, which recently revised its laws to declare itself an "irreversible" nuclear power.

The launch was "destabilizing to the region, and a clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions," Biden and Kishida said in a joint statement.

The last time Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan was in 2017, at the height of a period of "fire and fury" when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traded insults with then US president Donald Trump.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called the launch a "provocation", and vowed a "stern response".

The drills aimed to demonstrate the allies' "capabilities to conduct a precision strike at the origin of provocations", South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The forces "confirmed their readiness and demonstrated domestically and abroad the strong determination of Japan and the United States to deal with any situation", it said in a statement.

Pyongyang used Hwasong-12s the last two times it fired missiles over Japan -- in August and September 2017 -- tweeted Chad O'Carroll of specialist site NK News.

- Nuclear message -

The missiles "put South Korea, Japan, and Guam within range" and show that Pyongyang could hit US bases with nukes if war broke out on the Korean peninsula, he said.

Seoul, Tokyo and Washington have been ramping up joint military drills to counter Pyongyang's growing threats, staging the first trilateral anti-submarine drills in five years Friday.

Such drills infuriate North Korea, which sees them as rehearsals for an invasion.

About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea to help protect it from the North.

Firing a missile over Japan represented a "significant escalation" by North Korea, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University.

South Korean and US officials have been warning for months that Kim is preparing to conduct another nuclear test, saying last week that this could happen soon after Pyongyang's key ally China holds a Communist Party congress from October 16.

"North Korea always starts with a low-level provocation and gradually raises the level to attract media attention from all over the world," said Go Myong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

"By launching the missile over Japan, they are showing that their nuclear threat is not just targeting South Korea."

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