North Korea appeared to have fired a missile that flew towards the Pacific Ocean, Japan's government said on Thursday.
It earlier issued an emergency warning just before 4 a.m. local time (1900 GMT) over the J-alert broadcasting system telling residents of the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa to take cover indoors. That was lifted minutes later.
Two days ago Pyongyang said it would launch a satellite between Aug. 24-31, its second such attempt this year.
