North Korea Defends Missile Launch As Defence Against US

North Korea on Saturday defended its recent flurry of missile tests as a legitimate defense against what it called US military threats.

North Korea on Saturday defended its recent series of missile tests as a legitimate defense against what it called US military threats.

The reclusive communist country has conducted six sanctions-busting launches in less than two weeks, the most recent on Thursday launching a pair of ballistic missiles.

Tuesday,

North Korea fired a medium-range ballistic missile at Japan, sending people in the affected areas below it to cover.

“The missile test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a regular and self-planned operation.

A defensive step to defend the country's security and regional peace from direct US military threats that have persisted for more than half a century."

The government agency issued the statement after the International Civil Aviation Organization, which held its annual meeting in Montreal on Friday, condemned North Korea's missile tests in recent months as posing a threat to civil aviation.

North Korea considers this decision by the International Civil Aviation Organization "a political provocation of the United States and its subordinate forces with the aim of encroaching on the sovereignty of the DPRK" - short for North Korea's official name.

Seoul, Tokyo and Washington have intensified joint military exercises in recent weeks,

More exercises were carried out Thursday with the participation of a US Navy destroyer from the aircraft carrier strike group USS Ronald Reagan.

The launches are part of a record year of weapons tests by isolated North Korea, which leader Kim Jong Un has declared an "irreversible" nuclear power, effectively ending the possibility of talks on denuclearization.

Analysts say Pyongyang has seized the opportunity of the stalemate at the United Nations to conduct more provocative weapons tests.

BY
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