North Korea raises the stakes by firing missile over Japan

Tokyo

GLOBAL financial markets began to take the threat of a new Korean conflict more seriously on Tuesday, after North Korea fired a missile over Japan's northern island of Hokkaido and into the North Pacific Ocean in a move seen to have raised the threat level in north-east Asia significantly.

Japan did not attempt to intercept the missile, but issued warnings to residents of Hokkaido to be prepared to take cover if necessary.

Stocks and currencies fell across Asia and beyond after the launch; safe-haven investments such as US treasuries, gold and the Swiss franc and the yen all gained.

Even so, market reaction may yet need to catch up with the increasing gravity of the situation, analysts said. Veteran Japan analyst Jesper Koll…