Weyburn Resident Concerned for Family in Japan

A Weyburn family are concerned for the safety of their family in Japan.

North Korea fired a missile over the northern island of Hokkaido (Hock-kai-doe) on Monday.

"I heard that all the people on the island got the warning. So the first warning some of them thought it was just a false alarm and they ignored it but the second one, it was real," said Taka Iida (Ee-da), Acupuncturist who has lived in Weyburn since 2004. 

"My mum and Dad live in Sapporo, which is on the northern Island called Hokkaido," explained Iida. The population of Sapporo is over two million people.

"The Government recommended them to go underground or go in a big building to hide, but some people who live in the Suburbs or countryside, they have nowhere to hide, they were so scared, luckily the missile didn't land on the island."

The Missile landed in the sea after it flew over land just after 6 am Hokkaido time Tuesday morning, 3 pm Monday afternoon, Saskatchewan time.

It has been reported that residents of Hokkaido only had a few minutes to find somewhere safe before they could have been hit by the missile, had the target been on land.

Iida also said how North Korea, China, and Japan have a history of conflict.

"We've been believing they're not going to do anything, they just use things to threaten us to get food or money from other countries but this one, they kind of crossed the line."

His first reaction was to think of how bad it could be and also how to bring his parents to a safer place.

Iida will be calling his parents later today to see how they are doing.

Hokkaido is a Prefecture of Japan, similar to a province.

Japan is only allowed to defend themselves when attacked. They are not allowed to invade based on a post 2nd World War Constitution.

Location of Hokkaido Island in relation to North Korea.