North Korea has test fired another ballistic missile, this time landing in Japan’s Exclusive Economic zone”:http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part5.htm, the first to reach the area since 1998.<br /><br /> The zone extends 200 nautical miles from Japan’s coast and, whilst it’s within international waters, is under Japanese control. All coastal states are legally entitled to control such a zone under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea.<br /><br /> Believed to be a Rodong missile with a range of 1200 kilometres, the missile fell into the Sea of Japan about 1000 kilometres east of North Korea.<br /><br /> A second missile was also fired but failed shortly after take off.<br /><br /> The launches will further escalate regional tensions that remain high after a series of missile launches and the decision by the United States to place a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea.<br /><br /> North Korea responded by threatening a “physical response” against the deployment decision.<br /><br /> In Tokyo Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the launches.<br /><br /> “It is a considerable threat to our national security that North Korea’s missile has landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zones. I firmly protested against North Korea’s unforgivable action which is in obvious defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” he said.<br /><br /> North Korea came under the latest round of U.N. Security Council sanctions in March after its fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket the following month.<br /><br /> Tensions have been high on the Korean peninsula since the January nuclear test. The two Koreas remain technically at war under a truce that ended fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.<br />
