JAPAN PICKS 'NORTH' AS 2017 SYMOBOL

Tokyo : Japan chose the Chinese character for ''North'' as its traditional ''defining symbol of 2017'' following a series of North Korean missile launches.

Japanese TV stations went live to broadcast the annual announcement, in which Seihan Mori, master of the ancient Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, wrote the character on a  huge white panel  using an ink soaked calligraphy paper.

''It was the year in which people felt threatened and anxious by North Korea following repeated ballistic missiles launches and a nuclear rest,'' said Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, the event organizer.

At the end of every year, the general public votes for a Chinese character they think embodies the key news and events of the previous 12 months.

A total of  7,104 people out of 153, 594 voted for the character ''NORTH''.

A 38 year old woman from northern Fukushima prefecture who voted for the character she was constantly scared of North Korean missiles.''

''Our generation never experienced war......what if a missile actually falls on Japan?

''It is horrifying,'' she said, according to the organizer.

Last year, Japan picked ''gold'' to celebrate the success of Japanese athletes winning gold medals at the Rio Olympics.

Chinese characters, Kanji, are widely used in Japanese, along with other types of alphabets.