The U.S. and Japan are taking no chances, however, positioning ships in the Pacific and the Sea of Japan with the capability of tracking ballistic missiles as well as shooting them down if need be.
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The trouble starts with the names: the Sea of Japan is the East Sea to South Korea, and the East Sea of Korea to Pyongyang.
At the end of last week Japan sent two of its most modern warships to the Sea of Japan with orders to shoot down any missiles fired by North Korea towards the Japanese islands.
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This means vulnerability to interruption due to blockages to sea-lanes from Japan to Australia, to Iran, to Saudi Arabia, to Indonesia and across the Sea of Japan to Russia.
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Japan's armed forces were present as observers during the Sea of Japan war games.
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On Tuesday, Yediot Aharonot reported that Israeli analysts who reviewed videotapes of North Korea's missile tests concluded that alongside the various short range Scuds it sent over the Sea of Japan, Pyongyang also launched a Taeopodong-2 multi-stage long range missile capable of reaching Alaska.
North Korea makes a fist by firing a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan.
Two Aegis ships patrolling the Sea of Japan could theoretically defend the nation from attacks.
Two Aegis ships patrolling in the Sea of Japan could theoretically defend the nation from missile attacks.
It's not clear why waves of Nomura's jellyfish have made it to the Sea of Japan in recent years.
The launch succeeded after an earlier attempt crashed in the Sea of Japan.
Rajin-Sonbong (or Rason, for short) lies by the Sea of Japan in the country's north-east, near the border with Russia.
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Across the Sea of Japan in China, ICBC is the largest and most profitable commercial bank in the world.
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Tensions between the two were heightened in July when North Korea launched seven short-range missiles toward the Sea of Japan.
Only Tokyo, for instance, is vitally concerned about the Sea of Japan.
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In a concurrent response, U.S. Navy ships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles are being moved to the Sea of Japan, a Navy spokesman said Thursday.
Japan, the former colonial ruler of the Koreas, feels threatened by the North's weapons programmes (the North recently fired a missile over the Sea of Japan).
The company initially said there was no release of radiation, but admitted later that the quake released radiation and spilled radioactive water into the Sea of Japan.
They had giant-jellyfish invasions in 2005 and 2007, and because they've recently been spotted in the Sea of Japan, they're bracing for another, potentially harmful wave this summer.
Japanese F-2 fighter jets were scrambled, as the Russian Su-27 planes flew south over the Sea of Japan before turning back to the north, Japan's Kyodo news agency said.
Meanwhile China continues to invest in mines in North Korea and a potentially valuable docking facility in Rajin-Sonbong that gives it its first access to the Sea of Japan.
The nearest that it has got to predicting a big tremor was in 1983 when a foreshock pointed a finger at a subsequent magnitude 7.7 earthquake within the Sea of Japan.
The missiles apparently fell harmlessly into the Sea of Japan, and U.S. officials said the long-range Taepodong-2 failed shortly after take-off, calling into question the technological capability of North Korea's feared ballistic missile program.
The inability to do that is what lies behind the government's sorry record on crisis management during the Kobe earthquake two years ago, the costly oil spill in the Sea of Japan this year and the hostage crisis in Peru.
While Japan has been focused on its territorial dispute with China, Thursday's scramble against Russia was a reminder that the northern part of the Sea of Japan facing Russia can be as tense as the East China Sea to the south.
North Korea had issued a warning to mariners to avoid an area in the Sea of Japan at certain times between June 24 and July 9 because of a "military firing exercise, " according to a U.S. military communication about the warning provided to CNN.
Japan is within range of these rockets and has been taking precautions, including setting up batteries of US-made Patriot anti-missile systems around the capital and sending two warships to the Sea of Japan, with orders to shoot down any missiles fired towards the Japanese islands.
Whether the Chinese navy projects greater influence in the East China Sea and Sea of Japan because it bullied its way in or because a desperate Japan invited them in is ultimately immaterial if the end result is that Chinese ships can sail more freely and in greater numbers.
They have since been pushed into the Sea of Japan by a branch of the warm Kuroshio current that is running much closer to land than usual, and have spread up Japan's west coast and even through the Tsugaru strait between Japan's main island, Honshu, and northern Hokkaido into the Pacific Ocean.
The intelligence official, who could also not be named for security reasons, said the launches came as no surprise because North Korea had issued a warning to mariners to avoid an area in the Sea of Japan at certain times between June 24 and July 9 because of a "military firing exercise, " according to a U.S. military communication about the warning provided to CNN.
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