Japan is suspending evacuation drills simulating a North Korean missile attack after historic talks between Washington and Pyongyang, its top government spokesman said Friday.
The decision comes after US President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un met last week in Singapore and signed a joint document calling for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
"Following achievements made in the US-North Korea summit, we will halt drills involving residents for the time being," Yoshihide Suga told reporters, confirming earlier reports.
Instead, the government will shift its focus to keeping people informed about the nation's alert system and "how to behave" if missiles strike Japanese territory, said Suga.
Last year, Pyongyang fired two missiles over Japan and it has splashed others into the sea near the country, sparking a mix of panic and outrage.
North Korea has singled out Japan, a key US ally in the region, for verbal attacks, threatening to "sink" the country into the sea and to turn it into "ashes".
But the regional mood has turned towards diplomacy since the Winter Olympics in South Korea earlier this year, which set off a series of diplomatic moves culminating in the Trump-Kim meet.
Following the decision, nine drills planned for this year will be cancelled, a cabinet office official said.
Two drills have already been held this year, and 24 took place in the fiscal year to March, including one in Tokyo in January when hundreds of residents scrambled for cover at an amusement park.
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Saudi Arabia says new Yemen missile intercepted
Riyadh (AFP) June 19, 2018
Saudi air defences on Tuesday intercepted a ballistic missile fired from rebel-held territory in neighbouring Yemen, state media reported, as a Riyadh-led military coalition intensifies an offensive to capture a strategic port. The missile targeted Khamis Mushait in the kingdom's south and caused no casualties, the coalition said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency. The Iran-allied Huthi rebels said via their news outlet Al-Masirah they had targeted a Saudi Aramco facility ... read more
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