North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Thursday, sparking a brief alarm on the Japanese island of Hokkaido before Japan clarified that the projectile did not hit its territory, AFP reported.

The missile “did not fall on the territory of Japan,” said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said it was likely an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The projectile “is believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile” whose trajectory was “steeply inclined to the east,” Hamada told reporters, adding that the missile did not appear to have landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

North Korea usually launches its ballistic missiles with a cruise missile to prevent them from flying over other countries. But North Korean missiles have passed over Japan several times in the past.

South Korea’s General Staff, in turn, announced: “North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile toward the East Sea,” the Korean name for the Sea of ​​Japan, without further details.

The launch caused a short-term alarm on the island of Hokkaido, which is in the north of the Japanese archipelago.

“Evacuate immediately! Evacuate immediately!” the Japanese government ordered in a message, asking residents of Hokkaido to take shelter in buildings or underground.

However, the Coast Guard and local authorities quickly ruled out any danger.

The launch comes as two G7 ministers are scheduled to meet in Japan in the next few days: environment ministers meeting in Hokkaido on Saturday and Sunday and foreign ministers meeting on Sunday and Monday in Karuizawa (centre) .

Pyongyang has ramped up its weapons tests in recent months, raising tensions with Seoul and Washington, which have in turn stepped up military cooperation and conducted extensive joint exercises in the region.

On Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for increasing his country’s deterrence capabilities to counter “escalating maneuvers by US imperialists and treacherous puppets in South Korea to launch a war of aggression,” the official KCNA news agency reported.

Since March 23, Pyongyang has claimed to have conducted three tests of a “nuclear-armed underwater attack drone” capable of “creating a large-scale radioactive tsunami.” These boats are known as “Haeil” which means tsunami in Korean.

The North Korean regime also said it launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on March 16.

Last year, North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power, thus burying any possibility of talks on its denuclearization.

And in March, Kim Jong-un ordered his troops to step up training for a “real war.” Washington and Seoul responded with new joint military maneuvers involving American stealth aircraft.

Pyongyang sees the exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion of its territory and on Tuesday called them “hysterical” drills that “simulate an all-out war against” North Korea.

South Korea has called North Korea “irresponsible” after Pyongyang cut communication with Seoul last week.

The North’s and South’s militaries communicate twice a day through a dedicated line, but North Korea has stopped answering calls since April 7, South Korea’s unification ministry said.

Washington “strongly condemns” Pyongyang’s ballistic missile test

The United States “strongly condemns” North Korea’s launch of a “long-range ballistic missile” on Thursday, the White House said.

“This launch is in gross violation of several United Nations Security Council resolutions, unnecessarily escalates tensions and risks destabilizing security in the region,” said Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the US President’s National Security Council.

The ballistic missile launched by Pyongyang on Thursday was “possible with solid fuel”, the South Korean military said, a propulsion technology that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made a strategic priority.

“It appears that North Korea has launched a new type of ballistic missile, possibly solid fuel,” South Korea’s chiefs of staff told AFP.