The Japanese authorities had to make a delicate announcement: Japan urged residents to take shelter early Tuesday morning after North Korea fired a ballistic missile without warning over the country for the first time in five years, in a major and potentially dangerous escalation of recent weapons tests by the Kim Jong Un regime.
The launch is part of a test conducted by North Korea and officially has no specific goals. The medium-range missile, launched at 00:23 CEST, landed 3,000 kilometers offshore in the Pacific Ocean.
This is worrying news also for Formula 1, since the Paddock is arriving at Suzuka (the race circuit located 800 km from the Tohoku region, overflown by the missile), where the 18th round of the 2022 Formula 1 season will take place next weekend.
There were no reports of damage to aircraft or vessels near the missile trajectory, according to Japanese authorities, but the unannounced missile triggered a rare J-alert, a system designed to inform the public of emergencies and threats in Japan.
As soon as the launch was detected by the nation’s defense systems, the Japanese government ordered citizens residing in the prefectures of Hokkaido and Aomori to immediately take refuge in safe places (distance from the circuit greater than 1,000 kilometers): “It seems that North Korea has launched a missile, take refuge inside buildings or underground ”.
It is the first time that Japan has activated its alert system
The missile marks North Korea’s fifth ballistic test in ten days and is the first time Japan has activated its civilian alert system, as reported by SoyMotor earlier today. Although the Formula 1 Paddock is about to arrive in Suzuka, the top management of the series have not yet made any comments on the issue, but sources inside the paddock expressed their concerns for this situation.
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A tweet posted by Japan’s Prime Minister’s office urged residents to take shelter in buildings and to “not approach anything suspicious that is found and to immediately contact the police or fire department.”
A fact that brings to mind what happened at the beginning of the year in Saudi Arabia, when some Aramco factories located only a few kilometers from the host city were hit during the Jeddah GP Friday practice.
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