Japan Protests North Korea's Launch of Ballistic Missile with 700 Km Range

ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH/Roméo A.

JAKARTA - The Japanese government has strongly protested North Korea (North Korea) for launching a ballistic missile, which flew about 690 kilometers and fell outside the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Tokyo's harsh protest was delivered by Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi at a press conference on Wednesday, August 12.

"In connection with this launch, Japan lodged a strong protest with North Korea through diplomatic channels via its embassy in Beijing and strongly condemned it," Koizumi said, quoted by Sputnik.

According to him, North Korea had launched at least one ballistic missile towards the east from the east coast of North Korea on Tuesday (11/8) at around 20:59 GMT or Wednesday morning at 03:59 WIB.

The maximum altitude of the missile is about 90 kilometers and its range is about 690 kilometers, Koizumi said. The ballistic missile is estimated to have fallen into the Sea of Japan, outside Japan's EEZ, he added.

"There have been no reports of damage to aircraft or ships," Koizumi said.

The Japanese Minister of Defense emphasized that his party continued to analyze the details of the launch through intensive consultations with the United States and South Korea.

ZEE is an area of 200 nautical miles from the coastline, where a country has the right to natural resources in it and has the right to implement its country's legal policies and has the freedom to navigate, fly, and plant cables and pipes in the area.

The Japanese EEZ is the second largest in the Asia Pacific and the eighth largest in the world, with an area of about 4.47 million square kilometers.