North Korea on Thursday claimed its successfully conducted missile launches were part of routine military drills to raise self-defense capabilities, and will be continued.
"The latest successful missile launches were part of the routine military exercises staged by the KPA (Korean People's Army) to increase the nation's military capacity for self-defense," a spokesman for the North's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the country's Korean Central News Agency.
The statement came one day after the communist state fired seven long- and medium-range missiles, including a Taepodong-2, which is believed to be capable of reaching as far as the U.S.west coast at its full capacity.
Government officials here and in Washington had said that the North's test of the long-range missile apparently failed since it exploded in midair about 40 seconds after launch.
The North, however, claimed the launch was successful, and said it would retaliate for any efforts to impose restrictions on its missile tests.
"The DPRK will have no option but to take stronger physical actions of other forms, should any other country dares take issue with the exercises and put pressure upon it," the statement said.
The DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"The KPA will go on with missile launch exercises as part of its efforts to bolster (its) deterrent for self-defense in the future, too," it added.
The United States and Japan, which had warned there would be strong measures against North Korea in the case of a missile launch, agreed earlier in the day to seek a resolution by the United Nations Security Council against the missile launches, according to a joint statement by U.S. President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
The North's Foreign Ministry spokesman claimed his country was not barred by any international or bilateral agreements from test-firing missiles, repeating the country's previous claims.
"It is also preposterous for them to term the latest missile launches a "provocation" and the like for the mere reason that the DPRK did not send prior notice about them."
"The DPRK's exercise of its legitimate right as a sovereign state is neither bound to any international law nor to bilateral or multilateral agreements such as the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration and the joint statement of the six-party talks," the statement said.
Pyongyang has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on missile tests since 1999, shortly after it test-fired a long-range rocket, the Taepodong-1, which flew over northern Japan into the Pacific Ocean.
The foreign ministry spokesman repeated Pyongyang's stance that its missile test moratorium was "valid only when the DPRK-U.S.dialogue was under way." Washington has refused to comply with Pyongyang's demand for bilateral talks, saying all issues can be handled within the framework of six-party talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons program.
North Korea declared in February last year that it had succeeded in developing nuclear weapons.
Seoul, July 6 (Yonhap News)
N. Korea says its missile launches were part of military drills |
