Japan to upgrade N. Korea missile alert system after malfunction

Japan will upgrade its J-Alert early warning system by next summer after it malfunctioned in October when North Korea launched a ballistic missile over the archipelago for the first time in five years, the Cabinet Secretariat said Wednesday.

In order to issue alerts more swiftly, areas that receive an alert will be expanded under the new system to neighboring prefectures of those where the missile may strike, as well as prefectures that the projectile may potentially fly over.

Currently, the government issues an alert to prefectures based on the predicted strike location after narrowing down t...