North Korean missile flies over Japan, escalating tensions and prompting an angry response from Tokyo, by Anna Field.

North Korea launched a ballistic missile Tuesday morning that flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, the most brazen provocation of Kim Jong Un’s five-year-long rule and one that will reignite tensions between Pyongyang and the outside world. …

In Japan, the prime minister was visibly agitated by North Korea’s actions. “Launching a missile and flying it over our country was a reckless act, and it represents a serious threat without precedent to Japan,” Shinzo Abe said after an emergency national security council meeting.

Japan’s upgraded missile response system swung into action, sending emergency alerts through cellphones and over loudspeakers shortly after 6 a.m., warning people on the potential flight path of the threat and advising them to take cover. …

The Hwasong-12, known to American agencies as the KN-17, is fired from a road-mobile launcher — usually a modified truck — making it easy to move around the country and launch on short notice.

North Korea has sent a missile over Japan before, in 1998. Part of a North Korean rocket also flew over Japan in 2009, although Pyongyang claimed that it was a satellite launch and that it gave Japan notice before the launch.

This time, there was no notice. …

Kim — who has ordered the launch of 18 missiles this year alone, compared with the 16 missiles his father, Kim Jong Il, fired during 17 years in power — has defied international calls to stop his provocations.