Japan's Prime Minister's Office issued an evacuation order on Thursday after North Korea launched a suspected ballistic missile that was expected to fall near the country's northernmost prefecture. The country's J-Alert warning system was activated about 20 minutes after the launch and residents were urged to take shelter inside buildings or underground. However, soon after the warning, the system retracted the order, indicating that it had made an erroneous prediction. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that North Korea had fired a ballistic missile that fell in the sea east of the Korean Peninsula. While the missile was expected to land on Japan's north island of Hokkaido, it fell outside the country's exclusive economic zone. The launch marked the latest in a series of weapons tests that North Korea has recently carried out in response to the US-South Korea military exercises, which the country claimed were exacerbating tensions.