Japan’s national broadcaster NHK broke into normal programming to alert the news of Sunday morning’s launch and show live footage of Patriot missile batteries on the island of Okinawa deployed to shoot down any debris that might potentially fall on Japanese territory.
It said the North Korean rocket was launched at 9:31 a.m. Japan time.
A South Korean defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of office rules, says the South Korean military was tracking the rocket’s trajectory but gave no further details.
He says the launch from the North’s west coast launching pad was made between 9:30-9:35 a.m. local time.
Japan’s NHK broadcaster reported that the Japanese government said the rocket passed over the southern Japanese island of Okinawa but no anti-missiles were fired.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called the North Korean launch and the recent nuclear test violations of U.N. agreements.
He told reports: “We absolutely cannot allow this. We will take action to totally protect the safety and well-being of our people.”
The Japanese government says no rocket debris fell on the Japanese territory and there are no reports of damage.
