During a hearing before the parliamentary committee on foreign policy and security, a spokesman for Japan’s Ministry of Defense stated that Tokyo had lodged a formal protest through diplomatic channels over the missile launch. This account is cited by TASS.
“A strong protest was delivered through diplomatic channels via the embassy in Beijing.”
Earlier, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters that North Korea might have attempted to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile that subsequently landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Simultaneously, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on 13 April to discuss the incident.
Prior to that, it was reported that North Korea had launched an unidentified type of ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan on 13 April.