North Korea has successfully launched what is reported to be a KN-17 intermediate range missile over Japan. It broke up in the air before hitting any targets.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe considers this a “grave and serious threat,” vowing to “make utmost efforts to firmly protect the lives of the people.” Japan has been mulling over a change to its pacifist constitution since spring of this year.

Herb London of the London Center for Policy Research returned to “The Chris Salcedo Show” today to affirm that this launch “is a big deal.” He told Chris Salcedo that the previous administration kicked the can down the road on preventing an assault on the United States’ allies – or the U.S. itself.

He said Abe needs to have a real discussion with the Japanese people about developing a deterrent, too. “The Japanese can only say ‘The missiles are coming,’” he warned. Without the U.S. military presence on Okinawa, they would be mostly defenseless.

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