North Korea is believed to have launched a missile that flew over Japan into the Pacific Ocean in the early hours of Thursday morning.
According to Reuters, the Japanese government issued an emergency warning just before 4 am local time, telling residents of the Okinawa prefecture to take cover indoors.
The missile flew across Japan into the Pacific Ocean, with the warning being lifted minutes later. It is unclear what the target of the missile is.
North Korean capital Pyongyang said it would be launching a satellite during the latter part of the month of August in a second attempt this year.
In a post notifying the public of the event from an official X account of the Japanese government, translated into English, the account wrote, "Missile launch. Missile launch. The missile is believed to have been launched from North Korea."
In subsequent posts, the English version of the Japanese Prime Minister's X account said the country will continue to collect relevant information and inform the public of anything that could be important.
The account added a post directing the communication of all pertinent information to South Korea, the United States, and other countries.
Possible footage of the missile, posted by Global: Military-Info to X, shows the object flying through the sky over Japan.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the launch involved what North Korea called a "space launch vehicle."
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
