Japanese Prime Minister Receives Report on North Korean Missile at 2:45 AM... Calls Staff Meeting in the Middle of Holiday Night

Instructions for Confirming Safety of Ships and Aircrafts

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] With North Korea launching a missile a day before the founding anniversary of the Workers' Party, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida convened his aides at his residence late at night on a holiday, triggering an emergency alert in Japan's security line.

According to Kyodo News on the 9th, about an hour after North Korea launched the missile, just before 3 a.m., Prime Minister Kishida received a situation report from Takashi Murata, Cabinet Crisis Management Officer, at his official residence.

Prime Minister Kishida met with Crisis Management Officer Murata for about nine minutes from 2:45 a.m. to 2:54 a.m., accompanied by two Deputy Cabinet Secretaries, Masataka Okano and Kenichi Takahashi, and Kazuo Masuda, Director of the Defense Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Defense, Kyodo News reported.

Previously, when North Korea fired a missile over the Japanese archipelago on the 4th, Prime Minister Kishida issued three directives to relevant authorities within about five minutes, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno held a press conference about 44 minutes later.

Kyodo News reported that on the 9th as well, immediately after the launch, Prime Minister Kishida instructed the provision of accurate information, confirmation of the safety of ships and aircraft, and preparation for unforeseen situations.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that between approximately 1:48 a.m. and 1:58 a.m. on the same day, they detected two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) launched from the area around Munchon (north of Wonsan), Gangwon Province, North Korea, into the East Sea.

The Japanese government is confirming whether this missile was a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), Kyodo News reported. However, South Korean military authorities are reportedly considering the possibility of it being an SLBM to be low.