At a press conference held on May 10, Minister of Defense Kishi Nobuo explained that it appears that the ballistic missile that North Korea fired on May 7 flew on an irregular path and fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). “The missile seems to be the same model as the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that the North fired on Oct. 19, 2021,” he said.

On the ministry’s analysis of the latest missile launch, he noted that “at this moment it is difficult to provide more details.”

The latest SLBM reached a maximum height of about 50km and flew about 600km.