One Of North Korea-Launched Missiles Likely Landed Outside Japan's EEZ - Defense Minister

TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) One of the ballistic missiles launched by North Korea has presumably landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said on Tuesday.

Japan and South Korea detected the launch of an unidentified missile from the North toward the Sea of Japan overnight Tuesday. Seoul later identified the projectile as a short-range submarine-launched ballistic missile, while Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that there were two distinct launches from North Korea.

"The missile flew along an uncharacteristic trajectory. There is a possibility that a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) was tested," Kishi was quoted as saying by the Kyodo news agency.

The flight range of one of the projectiles was about 600 kilometers (almost 373 miles) and the maximum altitude amounted to 50 kilometers, the minister told reporters, adding that analysis of the second missile is underway.

Earlier in the day, Kishida said that Tokyo was assessing the incident.