North Korea fired two missiles in the early morning hours of Wednesday, according to Japan's Kyodo news agency, citing a Japanese government official. The first launch occurred around 3:30 a.m. local time, with a second following shortly after 4:00 a.m.
Both missiles came down in the Sea of Japan, landing roughly 500 to 600 kilometers off the western coast of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island. CNN, drawing on two separate sources, reported that neither missile was the long-range Taepodong-2 that the United States and Japan had feared Pyongyang was preparing to deploy.
Washington and Tokyo had been closely watching for a possible Taepodong-2 launch, a missile considered capable of reaching Japan, Alaska, or potentially Hawaii. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and US President George W. Bush had previously agreed to impose unspecified pressure on Pyongyang if such a long-range weapon were launched.
Japan remains especially wary of North Korean missile activity after Pyongyang fired a Taepodong-1 over Japanese territory into the Pacific in 1998, an incident that accelerated joint US-Japanese efforts to develop missile defense systems.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in July 2006, in its own words.