A “legitimate reaction” to “direct military threats from the United States”: North Korea on Saturday defended its recent series of missile tests that Washington, Seoul and Tokyo called a “serious threat to peace and security “.
North Korean missile tests have increased in recent days, with the communist country firing six in less than two weeks, the latest being two ballistic missiles on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the North launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japan, forcing some of the archipelago’s residents to take cover.
“The missile launch test by the [Corée du Nord] is a regular and planned self-defense measure to defend the country’s security and regional peace against direct military threats from the United States that have lasted for more than half a century,” said the North Civil Aviation Agency. -Korean without specifying which launch it was, according to the official KCNA agency.
State media released the statement after the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which holds its annual meeting in Montreal, on Friday condemned ballistic tests carried out by Pyongyang in recent months and called them a danger. for civil aviation.
The reclusive country considers this resolution adopted by the ICAO as “a political provocation by the United States and its vassal forces aimed at undermining the sovereignty of the DPRK”.
“Serious threat”
For their part, Seoul, Tokyo and Washington have intensified their joint military exercises in recent weeks, and carried out new maneuvers on Thursday involving a US Navy destroyer belonging to the strike group of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
The launches come amid a record year of weapons testing by North Korea, which leader Kim Jong Un has said is an ‘irreversible’ nuclear power, ending the possibility denuclearization talks.
The United States on Friday announced economic sanctions against two individuals and three entities accused of involvement in the illegal export of oil to North Korea.
Washington, Tokyo and Seoul participated in a trilateral meeting on the same day and agreed to “continue to closely coordinate their short- and long-term responses, including with allies and partners of the United Nations”, the department said. US state in a statement.
The latest missile launches from Pyongyang “pose a serious threat to peace and security in the region”, he commented.
“Legitimate reaction”
North Korea issued a new statement on Saturday in which it said it was “very closely following the extremely worrying development of the current situation”, referring to the deployment of the American aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan during the joint American-Southern maneuvers. Korean this week.
The exercises carried out jointly by Seoul and Washington arouse the anger of Pyongyang, the North Korean regime considering them as rehearsals for an invasion.
These maneuvers are “extremely provocative and threatening”, KCNA said on Saturday, and the recent participation of the USS Ronald Reagan is “a kind of [coup de] military bluff” against Pyongyang’s “legitimate reaction” to protect itself from US threats, the state media added.
Analysts say Pyongyang has taken advantage of the stalemate at the United Nations to carry out ever more provocative weapons tests.
In addition, Seoul and Washington have been warning for months that Pyongyang will conduct another nuclear test, likely after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) congress on Oct. 16.