The start of US-Japanese exercises after the North Korean missile

Sources-INA 

The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that its forces will conduct joint military exercises with the US military in the skies of the Sea of Japan, in a move considered as a response to North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile, on Friday .

A joint statement stated that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the US Armed Forces conducted bilateral military exercises, amid what it described as an "increasing security atmosphere around Japan ."

Earlier, North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, the latest in a record series of missile tests in recent weeks .

On Thursday, the South Korean army announced that its northern neighbor had launched an "unidentified ballistic missile" towards the Sea of Japan .

The new tests, the latest launches, came just hours after Pyongyang warned of "stronger military responses" to the United States' beefed up security presence in the region .