Japan holds evacuation drills as North Korea presses on with missile tests

About 100 school children and their parents are holding a clean-up on the field of the local elementary school in this small fishing and farming town, when an alarm warns of an impending missile attack and they run for the school gymnasium.

The siren “rang all of a sudden while we were picking grass, so that scared me,” said Taison Ito, a 10-year-old fifth grader.

“It’s something close to our daily lives,” said parent Kanako Ono, adding that news about North Korea and missile tests is always in newspapers and on TV.

Sunday’s evacuation drill in this town of 3,500 people some 760 km (475 miles) west of Tokyo involved a simulated North Korean missile attack as more Japanese towns and cities take steps to brace for what they hope will never happen.

North Korea has been increasing the number of its missile test launches in recent months, launching 12 so far this year and three last month, with many splashing into the Sea of Japan, some inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, which extends up to 200 miles from its shores.

Tokyo has repeatedly condemned the test launches, which are in violation of U.N. resolutions. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government earlier this year instructed municipalities to hold evacuation drills, heightening a sense of urgency among the public.

 

Read More: Japan holds evacuation drills as North Korea presses on with missile tests | Reuters