North Korea has defended its recent spate of ballistic missile launches as a legitimate defence against what it called a decades-old threat by United States military forces.
According to international media, Pyongyang’s statement comes in response to recent criticism by the United Nation’s civil aviation authority over North Korea’s six missile launches in a 12-day period, including an intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan on Tuesday.
Saturday’s statement was a rebuke to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and its recent condemnation of the missile launches, which the UN body said had posed a serious safety risk to international aviation.