DPRK rejects UN condemnation on its missile launches

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday rejected a press statement issued by the UN Security Council condemning its latest ballistic missile launches.

"This is an intolerable act of encroaching upon its (the DPRK) dignity, right to existence, sovereignty and right to self-defence," said a spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry in response to a question from the press, according to the official KCNA news agency.

The spokesman stressed that the DPRK will continue to bolster its nuclear force in a phased manner in 2016, when the DPRK had conducted a purported H-bomb test in January, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the statement, the Security Council members also reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia at large and expressed their commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the situation.

On Monday, the DPRK fired three ballistic missiles into eastern waters. Those launches are in grave violation of the DPRK's international obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions, said the 15-nation council on Tuesday.

The DPRK state media described the test-firing of the missiles as "perfect" and said the missile launches have proved that the strategic force of the military is "capable of mounting a pre-emptive attack on the enemies any time and from any place."

The missile launches came less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its east coastal town of Sinpo, where a submarine base is known to be located.

--IANS

lok/