North Korea fires barrage of ballistic missiles – sparking urgent evacuation order in Japan

NORTH Korea has fired another three ballistic missiles off its east coast, escalating tensions in the region even further.

Japan issued a J-Alert instructing residents in Miyagi, Yamagata, and Niigata prefectures to take shelter.

The Yonhap news agency reported the first missile went through stage separation, indicating it may be a long-range weapon.

It said two short-range missiles were also fired.

The first ballistic missile was initially thought to have flown over and past Japanese territory, according to the Japanese government’s emergency broadcasting system.

However, Japan’s Ministry of Defence later said the missile did not fly over Japanese territory.

Reports suggest the rocket, fired from Pyongyang, fell into the Pacific Ocean around 683 miles east of Japan.

It flew at an altitude of 1,200 miles and covered a range of 466 miles, Japan's Defence Ministry said.

A second short-range ballistic missile was fired less than an hour later, according South Korea's military.

The Japanese coast guard has also warned about a third short-range missile launch.

The two short-range missiles were fired from Kaechon, north of Pyongyang.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said North Korea's missile launches "absolutely cannot be forgiven".

It is the second test flight over the country in a month in a record year of missile testing by the nuclear-armed North, amid escalating tensions in the region.

The latest launches come a day after North Korea fired at least 23 missiles, the most it has fired in a single day ever.

One of those missile flew in the direction of a populated South Korean island and landed near the rivals' tense sea border, triggering air raid sirens and forcing residents in Ulleung island to evacuate.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol described it as "territorial encroachment" and Washington denounced it as "reckless".

That was the first time a ballistic missile had landed near the South's waters since the peninsula was divided in 1945.

Yoon's office vowed a "swift and firm response" and said Pyongyang would "pay the price for provocation".

South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.

Wednesday's launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the US and South Korea to pay the most horrible price in history in protest of ongoing South Korean-US military drills that it views as a rehearsal for a potential invasion.

The North also fired more than 100 rounds of artillery from its east coast into a military buffer zone established in a military agreement with the South, South Korea's military said.

The huge volley of launches were "provocations against South Korea," said Go Myong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they lead up to a nuclear test," he added.

It follows a recent blitz of launches, including what the North said were tactical nuclear drills.

Washington and Seoul have repeatedly warned the launches could culminate in another nuclear test -- which would be Pyongyang's seventh.

Tensions have risen sharply on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea's recent barrage of missile tests prompted South Korea, the US and Japan to conduct joint drills in response.

The latest barrage of missile launches comes after the US accused North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-un of secretly shipping  a “significant number” of artillery shells to Russia.