Tokyo condemned the launch of a North Korean rocket Sunday that apparently flew over Okinawa Prefecture and was widely viewed as a ballistic missile test in disguise.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addressed reporters immediately after the rocket was launched from North Korea's western coast at around 9:31 a.m.
"North Korea's act of pressing on with the missile launch despite (our) repeated warnings to exercise self-restraint is totally unacceptable," Abe said at his office. He condemned the firing and slammed it as a clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.