South Korea goes big. In response, South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered the military “to display its capabilities that can overwhelm North Korea,” according to Yonhap, the government-affiliated news organization. “The show of overwhelming force involved the dropping of eight Mark 84 or MK84 multipurpose bombs by four F15K fighter jets at a shooting range near the inter-Korean border in Taebaek.”
Japan reacts. Hours after the North Korean launch, Japanese officials took reporters on a tour of some of Japan’s Patriot missile batteries. Tokyo is practicing deploying the system quickly to various U.S. bases in preparation for more serious challenges from Pyongyang in the future.
For an idea of how remarkable the flight was, consider that this was only the third North Korean missile flight over Japan in the past two decades the NYT reports. The Tokyo government spoke of the missile in unusually dire terms. “North Korea’s reckless action of launching a missile that passed over Japan is an unprecedented, serious and grave threat,” said Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
What’s flying. The test appears to have been a new intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missile, which flew as U.S. and South Korean forces conduct annual military drills on the peninsula which the North considers a threat. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has ordered the launch of 18 missiles this year alone, compared with the 16 missiles his father, Kim Jong Il, fired during 17 years in power.