North Korea sparked further World War 3 fears when Pyongyang fired a missile over Japanese territory before it crashed into the sea, early on Tuesday Korean time.
Kim Jong-un has recently conducted a flurry of missile tests after engaging in war of words with US President Donald Trump.
The despot North Korean leader threatened to hit the US territory of Guam before Mr Trump said he was “locked and loaded” waiting to launch his own retaliatory attack, as tensions between Washington and Pyongyang escalated.
Robert Kelly, an associate professor at Pusan National University, warned the latest round of tests were a signal from Pyongyang, hinting the Kim regime isn’t just content with striking the US.
Speaking to Bloomberg, he said: “I think the launch over Japan was the signal that North Korea could retaliate against Japanese civilians, as well as South Koreans and Americans.
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“The news in the last couple of weeks is North Korea’s ability to strike the United States, and it’s been well known for a while that North Korea could do a great deal of damage to South Korea.
“This is North Korea’s way of saying we can also hit Japan, which hasn’t got so much press recently.
“Of course, striking Japan would be part of any retaliatory package if there was an American strike on the North Korean missile programme.
“This is a way for North Korea to threaten Japanese civilians, to convince the Americans and South Korea not to attack North Korea over its nuclear programme.”
In a bid to avoid any escalation, Japan made no effort to shoot down the missile but issued safety warnings, telling residents to take shelter in a “sturdy building or basement”.
Warnings were issued across Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Niigata and Nagano
But public broadcaster NHK said there were no signs of damage from the rocket, which passed over Japanese territory at around 6:06am local time, according to officialscals in Tokyo.
Donald Trump said the world received North Korea’s latest message “loud and clear”.
He said: “This regime has signalled its contempt for its neighbours, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behaviour.
“Threatening and destabilising actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table.”