In an article by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea’s foreign ministry said the US had taken “provocative steps” by calling an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
According to KCNA, the ministry said, “We had neither the US in mind nor its purpose when conducting the most recent tests, but this is an act that was planned solely for the defense of the country.” “So there’s no need for America to worry or berate itself over test-firing.”
France, Ireland and Estonia issued a joint statement after a UN Security Council meeting calling for stricter enforcement of sanctions against North Korea, which is prohibited under international law from testing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
The countries called the launch a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and asked North Korea to engage in talks.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test was “the latest in a series of reckless provocations” by the country.
Thomas-Greenfield, referring to North Korea by its official name, said, “Each new advancement in the DPRK’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs destabilizes the region and threatens international peace and security.”
He said the US has offered to meet with North Korean officials “without any preconditions” and “we have made it clear that we have no hostile intentions towards the DPRK.”
North Korea said its SLBM test launch was “part of normal activities” and “did not pose any threat or damage to the security of neighboring countries and the region.”
“If the US does not raise the issue of the regular and legitimate exercise of the sovereign right of the DPRK, there will be no tension on the Korean peninsula, but if the US and its vassal forces persist to act wrongly, it will be as a could act. Catalyst for more serious consequences,” North Korea’s foreign ministry said according to KCNA.
KCNA said the SLBM was launched from the sub “8.24 Yongang” – the same vessel used to test North Korea’s first SLBM in 2016.
The report said that “a lot of advanced control guidance technologies” were incorporated into the missile, which “will contribute greatly to keeping the country’s defense technology at a high level and enhancing the underwater operational capability of our Navy.”
Mount said North Korea sees SLBMs as another way to bypass the missile defenses of the US and its allies, particularly South Korea and Japan. “They are concerned that our missile defense erodes their deterrence capabilities,” he said.
At the same time, relations between North and South Korea are heating up, with Pyongyang agreeing to reopen official communications with Seoul on October 4.
CNN’s Sonia Moghe and Ben Westcott contributed reporting.
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