N Korea fires missile over northern Japan; Abe speaks with Trump

No more firing missiles at Japan should be tolerated. The fact that nothing has been done concerns me we are on the brink of all out war with China and Russia.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should do something worthwhile for a change. Stop digging up and exporting Uraium. Number two he should put more pressure on China to make North Korea comply. If not stop sending China Coal and Beef.

Live exports are inhumane anyway and coal is killing the planet.

Firing missiles over another country without that country's approval - if that was done to North Korea, y'know that would have been an act of war

What would had happened if those NK missiles had another massive failure and crashed on Japanese soil?

Dialogue. Don't let the wargasm addicts get their fix.

Japan needs to coordinate with South Korea and China to lob a few missiles over North Korea, landing in the Yellow Sea.

 so why waste billions of Yen of tax-payer money on target practice?

For the same reason you warm up before doing sports. You don't want to get into action with your muscles being cold, so you have to be sure they get warmed up for optimal performance. Should the interceptors never get tested, how would anybody know if corrections need to be made and what would they be if any? At the same time, Japan really needs to send a clear message that no one screws with them.

N. Korean has speeding up upgrading its missile capability while the US, Japan and S. Korea waiting for sanction to work on N. Korean regime. It’s foolish game. The more they wait the more N. Korean regime get advance missile system.

N. Korean regime won’t back down and agree to any demand by UN and US, Japan and S. Korean Government.

The US, Japan and S. Korean Government must decide about N. Korea matter and they must not waste the time.

Smithinjapan- you talk like North Korea suddenly started acting up the day Abe took office.

Newsflash. They've always been a little child throwing a tantrum for attention.

yes it's more serious this time, but they slap away the hand that feeds.

The only real course of action is keep up with the embargoes and hope China sends Kim to his room without dinner.

The Japanese government's J-Alert warning system advised people in the area to take precautions.

I asked my wife if I needed to grab my sunglasses.

The only solution that doesn't end in disaster is to become friends.

clamenza: "Smithinjapan - your solution is to show NK that their bellicose behaviour should be rewarded out of fear. No thanks."

Not rewarded, and not out of fear. But please, do tell us, what the "punishments" have done. Thanks to Abe, Trump, and other hardliners saying they will double down on sanctions and refusing dialogue, North Korea has already won. They are continually defiant regardless of how many times Abe says he's "Getting tough" and "increasing pressure", and now look at him run around again asking the US, the UN, and China for help. Does he look like a big tough guy winning? Not at all, my friend. Had Nationalism not been Abe's agenda from the get go, which sunk relations with NK when they peaked under Koizumi, they might have gotten far more by now. Instead, they're going to have to go back to the table knowing they have handed NK even more.

Dialogue's the only way to go, bud, and you know it. Deny it and talk tough all you like while NK just makes you look even sillier, there is nothing else you would actually do besides talk. Nothing.

Now this is a real threat. Even though it was heading their way, neither Japan nor USA even tried to take it down. It means, they are defenseless. Now Abe is going to triple the defense ministry budget. And no one will object to him.

This sob is not going to stop until he gets us all blown up! NK is one of the world's largest possessors of chemical weapons, ranking third after the United States and Russia. Seems he is really itching for someone to attack. I'm sure the whole country is booby trapped!

creeping towards continent america with each launch

Go back to the table and start talking. That's the ONLY way to calm down the regime for the moment. It's too late to do anything else.

Common sense is an anathema to the hawks, unfortunately. The loudest voices in favor of conflict will be those who are safe behind their desks, many thousands of miles away.

The DPRK doesn't operate in "rational" terms, it's quite possible that the military there see such provocations as reasonable invitations to talks, or at the very least, some kind of recognition.

NK really hates oceans I guess

No Political Leader of the G20 has never experienced the threat or consequences  war,  let alone the extreme losses and ramifications of all out war and the possible exchange of strategic and tactical atomic/nuclear weapons .

However a small and ever diminishing group of wise ageing  Japanese pensioners have.  

Japan needs leadership that will stand firm and react decisively, or else many more towns an cities will be at risk/threat of annihilation far more devastating than Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

It is time to call upon the United States to defend the people of Japan if necessary with full military action and for the SDF to be equipped to stand alongside their US comrades who are prepared to defend Japan with their lives.

Hi smithinjapan, you are correct, however Pyongyang will not back off until every US forward command base is removed from the region. Which under current circumstances is inconceivable.

Smithinjapan - your solution is to show NK that their bellicose behaviour should be rewarded out of fear.

No thanks.

People, let's not forget airlines fly daily through Japan airspace - collision is a real danger for both domestic and international flights.

It is not safe and this is no game. Will the country government of that airline take action or just ban all flights?

This is EXACTLY what I said would happen when Japan increased sanctions and started joining in the war games. How is that "extra pressure" going, Abe? because it seems the only pressure you've put is on people here, and on yourself to go around begging for more help.

Go back to the table and start talking. That's the ONLY way to calm down the regime for the moment. It's too late to do anything else.

OK thinking outside the box here...build a wall around NK.....oops too expensive, then build a gigantic driving range net around the place......lots of Japanese companies are experts at these....the bomb will bounce back into NK

If America and SK can play massive war games then why not NK?

Time for some ping pong diplomacy, return all missiles by air mail....attach a recording of Elvis, Return to Sender....

At some point the people may wake up and realize that evertime Abe plays his broken record "will do the uttermost to protect the people" is already the uttermost he can do.

"The Constitution is going to be revised and there won't be a word about it. Why? Because the state of the planet demands it.

Speaking like a true Starship Trooper Sky-Marshal,

The Japanese government's J-Alert system broke into radio and TV programming, warning citizens of the possible missile. Bullet train services were temporarily halted and warnings went out over loudspeakers in towns in Hokkaido.

"I was woken by the missile alert on my cell phone," said Ayaka Nishijima, 41, an office worker from Morioka, the capital of Iwate prefecture, 300 km (180 miles) south of Cape Erimo.

"I didn’t feel prepared at all. Even if we get these alerts there’s nowhere to run. It’s not like we have a basement or bomb shelter, all we can do is get away from the window," she told Reuters by text message.

Japan did not shoot down the missile ahead passing Japan because the government would prefer to play the victim card in every situation but also I suspect they probably clearly identified the trajectory would not hit Japan land, Japan protesting is of course normal but issuing the useless scary alert on the population, with no protection to offer anyway, is just a political attempt to use that threat for pushing national agenda.

How did Pawn Minister Abe protect Japan? He was given 5 years and he wasted every minutes of it. The only way to protect Japan is working with China and have friendly talk with NKorea. But Abe did everything possible to antagonize China. Is it his way to protect Japanese people?

Now Abe and his Joke defense minister demanded Japanese people to pay $5 trillions for military protection. Give me the money and I will buy NKorea out and have a peaceful East Asia once for all.

The window for appeasement and sanctions has slammed shut and the full blame and responsibility for the outcome lies firmly with the Pyongyang dictatorship of Kim Jong-un and the strike must be ruthless, unequivocal and decisive

And now our top people are dealing with this.

"Grave threat to our nation"????  Hyperbole, methinks.

@thepersoniamnow - ACTUALLY it's been well documented that it is possible to shoot down a missile with many counter missiles

It is possible to shoot down a DPRK missile from mainland US because they have an hour to do so. However, Japan has less than 8 minutes to shoot down a missile while it's over the Japan sea, which is nearly impossible. Read it again!

do you guys really believe what media tells you?lol kim and dangerous ..... you gotta be kidding.

He's endangering his own people and the region by his reckless actions. But then, this is also typical of the DPKR over the last 60 years. Provocations, multiple agencies never working in tandem, internal power struggles, hawks and doves, a desperation to be seen as a world power etc.

And having Trump as his equally irrational counterpart does not help matters.

What do you think, Dandy Nong?

do you guys really believe what media tells you?lol kim and dangerous ..... you gotta be kidding.

In the dark of the night, a stranger broke into your house and raped your wife and all you did, was moaning about it in the morning. Is this story familiar?

It's certainly a pretty vile analogy of you to make to your fellow contributors; that's for sure.

What are you calling for? Retaliation? Pre-emptive strikes?

What happened to all those people laughing at "Crazy Kim up to his old antics again? Oh, how cute of him trying to make a missile, no way will he get anywhere with it!" Who could have thought that it could come to this, and the worst part is that this is nowhere near the end!

God, missile day again don't want to watch the 24-hour news about some countries threatening behaviour to NK.I want to know about what's happening about the Abe scandals and the who will be the next prime minister.

Nothing fundamental will change, the situation is deadlocked. I predict we will all still be here a year from now still talking about this.

This is a test on Orange Caligula Trump the Bully of Putin,

They are trolling him into his End of His Dictatorship and the Fall of his Fascist Regime

They have an associate with him 24 hours hiding the football

Trump is Mentally UNSTABLE and the biggest threat to WW3 and a return to the stone age

For those that survive. It is also testing China as it puts severe pressure on them now

As Un's missile could be considered an Act of War.

It is time now for the UN to act with the approval of Czar Putin and China

All nations and countries and the world populations are all in danger if War happens with mushrooms

This is Trumps "Cuban Missile Crisis" and he better listen to the correct people

Not his Nazi fascist base.

Let your elected officials know your feelings and press them to move it to the Top people.

Let us all take a moment of silence for Thoughts and prayers that the sane people will rein in their spoiled brat leaders

It seems that all the trade restrictions on NK have no effect. I wonder why.

Every year since the cease fire in the war with the United States of America and allies the same jingoistic celebrations in Democratic People's Republic of Korea roll out. Banging the metaphorical kerosene cans^, and creating internal and external newsworthy events. The fact this grows more threatening every year has more to do with matching any geopolitical noise created in North America.

The pattern is set, expect the same next year, and depending on any political posturing, there may be more.

**Foundation of the Korean People's Army Strategic Force on 3 July 1999. *

**Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War 27 July *

**End of the Korean War in 1953, 15 August Liberation Day Established after the liberation of Korea in 1945 *

Day of Songun, on 25 August, 1960 is seen by the DPRK as the "start of the Songun revolutionary leadership" *

** Foundation Day of the DPRK on the 9 September *

____

^ Jane Goodall's 'Mike the alpha male chimpanzee', with the kero cans, creating a lot of noise and fear: http://www.chimpanzoo.org/african_notecards/chapter_21.html

So the photo is totally misleading then.  These weapons are of limited use.

I hope that NK was not actually aiming at Guam

The missile wasn't shot down for several reasons.

Flight trajectories can be determined once the missile has reached maximum altitude (usually 2~5 minutes after launch) and this one was deemed to not be an immediate threat.

Missile interception is still a developing technology, with current land based systems only being capable of intercepting during the initial (take off), and terminal (final approach) phase.

By international treaty, airspace is limited to an altitude of 100km. The missile passed at an altitude of 500km, posing a legal issue that current politicians don't have the stomach for.

Although ship-based interceptors are able to intercept in the orbital phase, the intercept would have been in international air/sea.

Disillusioned

ACTUALLY it's been well documented that it is possible to shoot down a missile with many counter missiles and its not like shooting it with (as you say) a BB gun.

Wallace Fred

"The Constitution is going to be revised and there won't be a word about it. Why? Because the state of the planet demands it."

Spoken like a true dictator.

Japan should have practiced shooting them down.

No effort was made by the Japanese to shoot down the missile

Yeah, sorry, I was sleepy when I read that. Hopefully the interceptors will work when we need them.

In the dark of the night, a stranger broke into your house and raped your wife and all you did, was moaning about it in the morning. Is this story familiar?

bosphorusToday  10:23 am JST

And why was this missile not shot down?

According to BBC they actually tried to shut it down, but they failed.

Nope: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41078187

No effort was made by the Japanese to shoot down the missile,

The UN sanctions do not work

They don't work because NK is just a Russian-Chinese puppet state, they use it to influence the West indirectly. They only way to stop NK is to impose sanctions on Russia and China.

It's been well documented that the chances of shooting down a missile launched from the DPRK are very slim. It takes 15 minutes from launch to impact, which means they have 8 minutes to intercept it over the Japan sea. That's something about the size of an electricity pole flying at 10,000ft and doing 800kph. Even with the latest targeting technology it's nearly impossible. It's like trying to shoot a pea travelling at 800kph from 500 yards with a BB gun.

The UN sanctions do not work. They only make li'l Kim more determined and further hurt the impoverished people of the DPRK. Killing him and his military leaders would result in 'big brother' China getting extremely peeved and putting its 300 million people strong military into retaliatory action. The only answer is get this spoiled little brat into negotiations and for all countries concerned to create some kind of peaceful compromise, which is probably more difficult than shooting down a missile.

And why was this missile not shot down?

According to BBC, they actually tried to shut it down, but they failed.

Take shelter in basements? How many Japanese have basements? Waste of time anyway.

This is a very serious escalation. Past overflights were before North Korea had nukes. Little Kim is a lunatic. Could you imagine what might have happened had that missile malfunctioned over Hokkaido! I don't know this for a fact of course but Japan may not have tried to shoot down the overflying missile because they likely didn't expect a launch to the north and had no anti-missile units stationed up there.

Not trying to take from your point, but I'm pretty sure he's not loading these missiles with nuclear material and wasting it into the ocean. It's likey just an empty shell.

The government did what they are good at.

Stop the train service of Tokyo to increase the trouble of citizen. If they have shoot and it missed the target, media would have got some new topics to discuss for one more week.

When the Soviet Union attempted to put nuclear missiles in Cuba the American reaction brought the world to the brink of war. 

When the Soviet Union attempted to put nuclear missiles in Cuba the Soviets brought the world to the brink of war. 

Foxed it for you.

A frightening show of power from Pyongyang. And it seems, the show is working.

Calm down people. Like most people my first reaction was, why did they not shoot it down ? But if they did, then what ? We go to war, for what? Loss of innocent life is never worth it. Missiles are fast by the time it is detected it could be over a populated area, the debris will cause more damage. I agree with one of the posts, take out the fat little guy in his own area.

What is even more amazing to me, and one I see not logical reason are American tourists flocking to go to North Korea before the tourist ban is in place. WHY ?????

This is so embarrassing. So, Abe only watched while his national airspace has been raped.

@matthewsimon: The U.S. having a massive military presence in northeast Asia and routinely conducting military drills is not provocation?

When the Soviet Union attempted to put nuclear missiles in Cuba the American reaction brought the world to the brink of war. Imagine if China, or North Korea, or Russia, had an equivalent military buildup near the American coast and frequently flew bombers within sight of the coast.

Regarding shooting down the missile, as others have noted, it would be almost impossible to hit with current anti-missiles systems. Probably the S. Korean based THAAD would have the best capability.

And why did NK choose such a flight path? Well in all reality if you're going to be belligerent and show agressive power, but don't want to actually destroy anything (???), you'd choose the least problematic course. Over land to the west etc is of course out of bounds, which is why the recent  lobbing of missiles into the Sea of Japan is the course of less impact - ie no land. Firing anywhere to the south, south east (China, Korea, Taiwan Japan), east (Honshu and high population), greater north west (Russian territory) would have the greatest risk if anything went wrong. Firing across the bow of Hokkaido probably minimizes the chance of real-time damage, while retaining the highest level of "scare factor".

There is probably nothing anyone can do re this except China, who has the ability to punish NK with severe economic restrictions and political pressure. Perhaps Russia too.

And I do believe there are some Hawks in the ldp who believe this is a timely godsend to further redirect resources from other areas into the military budget hence boosting their rightousness and directly adding billions to the Big Industrial Military Complex. And of course it will deflect attention away from the lies and criminal activities of corrupt practices now under the spotlight. More than a few politicians, bureacrats etc will be sighing a "TFG" for that.

Kim can claim self defense and provocative US action all day but in the end it is he that is firing missiles over other countries and doing the real provocation.

Psyops - Fly a missile over Pyongyang? Nice idea. it could fall into the Yellow Sea, or it could hit that country next to the Yellow Sea - China. Now wouldn't that be something?

@thepersoniamnow: LDP are not elated because this is a distraction. But this does, indeed, serve their interests as it allows them to push for increased military spending and scrapping a pacifist constitution.

If i was Abe this is the best chance to take out article 9 and have Japan get its on ICBMs, IRBMs and SRBMs. Then Japan can fly their own missile over pyongyang and any other hostile country :)

Very frightening for me as my 3 year old lives in Hokkaido :(

People need to stop confusing their dislike for Abe and the LDP as the same thing as a NK threat on Japan.

They just shot a missile over my country, which I take to be a grave threat. It is in effect saying "watch your back, we wanna bomb you and your people".

Of course politicians will use fear mongering and twist the truth, but if you spread the nonsense that the LDP are elated about this since it will take the burden off of Abe's scandal....well who's reaching here?

Violence begets violence.

The Japanese government's J-Alert warning system advised people in the area to take precautions.

What kind of precautions? Hug your loved ones and hope for the best seems to be the standard.

Check this link for why the missile wasn't intercepted:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/08/16/national/politics-diplomacy/japan-may-able-shoot-north-korean-missiles-no-legal-basis-experts/#.WaSrtcsUlHg

'Masahisa Sato, senior vice minister for foreign affairs, tweeted last week that it would be “difficult” to shoot them down if the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Aegis destroyers, equipped with SM-3 anti-missile defense systems, were deployed in the Sea of Japan.'

Not very encouraging, is it?

Heesh, I never thought he would have the balls to do it. But yeah just throw more sanctions at him, that will help. ugh

Japan's response simply proves it's OK to shoot missiles right over Japan. With impunity.

Wow.

It's actually quite astonishing.

'Reuters reported that Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missile test was a threat that Tokyo would respond to firmly.'

Kim is in a corner as the sanctions bite harder and harder and like a cornered rat he is becoming more aggressive.

The hard sanctions won't stop an escalation but they will lead to a missle landing on Japan.

It is only a matter of time and unfortunately for the Japanese people they will not be protected by their government!

They better start throwing the NK people out of Japan, the ferry only goes one way now, and clamp down on Chinese firms that have anything to do with NK.

I don't know much about the missile defense capabilities but there has to be a response that hurts the third fatty. Better than than to have him think he can use Japan as a testing ground for a nuke.

@Matt : Where do you live? I didn't get anything in Tokyo, perhaps it was regionally based?

It doesn't make sense for Japan and South Korea to be deploying American anti-missile systems for nothing so there needs to be a plan for when they are used (and I'm sure there is).

They didn't try to shoot it down because it would show to the Japanese people it doesn't work should it miss.

Dango Bong,  My alert came to my iphone at 6:02, which was 4 minutes after it was launched, so the missile was noticed pretty quickly.  Another alert came as we were having breakfast to say it had passed over Japan and was heading out to sea.

This is a very serious escalation. Past overflights were before North Korea had nukes. Little Kim is a lunatic. Could you imagine what might have happened had that missile malfunctioned over Hokkaido! I don't know this for a fact of course but Japan may not have tried to shoot down the overflying missile because they likely didn't expect a launch to the north and had no anti-missile units stationed up there.

We go through the same boring useless rigmarole every time. "We protest strongly, we don't allowed this, we will protest to the UN" etc etc etc. We ie the rest of the planet, can do totally nothing about Kim's actions. He is free to enjoy playing around with his missiles as long as he wants. We will not risk nuclear war and the end of planet Earth.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday he would do all in his power to protect the Japanese public. "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.

And here's how: 

adding the government had protested the move in the strongest terms.

and

The Japanese government's J-Alert warning system advised people in the area to take precautions.

Good ol Abe. Got a way with words

Actually, no. Only in the first few seconds after launch.

Are you sure about that? The wikipedia page below suggests otherwise. (It seems I'm wrong too.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_defense

The Constitution is going to be revised and there won't be a word about it. Why? Because the state of the planet demands it. With the meteoric rise of China, Japan realizes that a few years down the road,they won't be the big dogs in east Asia. The failure to accept the age old fact that there are no perpetual empires is what's going to inevitably lead to the decimation of this rock we call home. Hold onto your cups!!

i honestly do not think Japan is capable of shooting one down, that is why they didn't, nor attempted to. In reality they probably didn't even know it was launched until it landed

And why was this missile not shot down?

Too high and going too fast perhaps. I think missiles can only be realistically shot down when they're more or less coming directly towards you.

Japan's military is a joke, and how Abe is going to protect the people when he let the missile go through his living room and doing nothing about it, and telling people to be precautious while sleeping early morning. Gutted......Well, Japan become Kim's playground from now on.

Take the little fat man out already. If we don't a much much bigger problem is coming......

If they shot it down, then Kim might stop for awhile and then they would have no reason to keep up the fearmongering!

He was supposed to have "backed down"... oops ?

Sheep attract wolves

The j alert system did teally wake me up

NK have flown missiles over JP in the past , I just hope people keep sensible heads

A few chicken hawks here wishing for a nuclear exchange because they're angry

That seemed to be a rather provocative missile launch that flew right over Japanese territory. Why they didn't shoot it down baffles me. They had every right to do so. Missed opportunity if you ask me. Now L'il Kim thinks he can use the other side of Hokkaido as his personal shooting range, and knows that Japan will do nothing but issue alerts.

The Japan Government didn't shoot down the missile because they are scared of Kim's reaction if they do so. Simple.

They didn't want to waste an interceptor on a rocket that was going to land in the middle of the ocean

And why was this missile not shot down?