Tokyo simulates first military attack since WWII amid N Korea threat

TOKYO, Jan 22 (AFP): Hundreds of Tokyo residents scrambled for cover Monday in the Japanese capital's first evacuation drill for a military attack since World War II, amid ongoing tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme.

A loudspeaker blared out a terrifying warning at the drill, held in a Tokyo amusement park: "We have information that a missile launch has occurred. Please evacuate calmly inside a building or underground."

A park employee ran around, shouting "a missile was launched, a missile was launched" as some 250 local residents and office workers duly evacuated to reinforced concrete buildings and a nearby subway station.

A few minutes later, a second message was announced via loudspeaker: "The missile passed. The missile likely flew over the Kanto (greater Tokyo) region towards the Pacific Ocean."

People in earthquake-prone Japan are familiar with evacuation drills simulating natural disasters and fires and annual drills are seasonal rituals seen almost everywhere in the country-from schools and workplaces to care homes.

But a drill simulating a North Korean missile attack on Tokyo is still a novel idea, although similar drills were held in other parts of Japan last year.

"I think it's better than nothing to have such a drill, but I am praying there is no missile attack from the North," Shota Matsushima, 20, a university student who was in a train station near the drill site, told AFP.