North Korea on Wednesday defended its string of short-range missile and rocket launches in recent weeks that have drawn criticism from South Korea and the United States.
"It is justifiable self-defense behavior for us to conduct these military exercises in order to preserve peace in the region and to protect the safety of our people and our country," the North's Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by state media.
The launches have taken place as U.S. and South Korean troops conduct annual military exercises in the region. The large-scale drills anger North Korea, which says it views them as a rehearsal for an invasion.
The North has fired missiles or rockets into the sea on several occasions between February 21 and Tuesday, according to the South Korean government. Seoul says some of the ballistic missiles are Scud class with a long enough range to cover the entire Korean Peninsula.
North Korea on Wednesday acknowledged that it had conducted "rocket launch training" over that period.
Who's provoking whom?
South Korea has said the launches -- short-range and aimed in a northeasterly direction out to sea -- are intentional provocations.
The U.S. State Department said Monday that launches of the Scuds violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.
"We urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions, and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Those comments appeared to have irritated North Korea's military.
"The U.S. and its supporters are calling our actions provocation, but they should not talk about provocation when they don't know what provocation is," the North's military statement said. "Provocation is when somebody has intent to hurt somebody else, but what we are doing is to protect ourselves, our country, our land, our people."
The U.S.-South Korean military exercises, on the other hand, are provocative, North Korea said: "It's a reckless American way of provocation and they're doing all this on somebody else's land."
It threatened the possibility of the launch of a more powerful rocket...
"It is justifiable self-defense behavior for us to conduct these military exercises in order to preserve peace in the region and to protect the safety of our people and our country," the North's Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by state media.
The launches have taken place as U.S. and South Korean troops conduct annual military exercises in the region. The large-scale drills anger North Korea, which says it views them as a rehearsal for an invasion.
The North has fired missiles or rockets into the sea on several occasions between February 21 and Tuesday, according to the South Korean government. Seoul says some of the ballistic missiles are Scud class with a long enough range to cover the entire Korean Peninsula.
North Korea on Wednesday acknowledged that it had conducted "rocket launch training" over that period.
Who's provoking whom?
South Korea has said the launches -- short-range and aimed in a northeasterly direction out to sea -- are intentional provocations.
The U.S. State Department said Monday that launches of the Scuds violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.
"We urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions, and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Those comments appeared to have irritated North Korea's military.
"The U.S. and its supporters are calling our actions provocation, but they should not talk about provocation when they don't know what provocation is," the North's military statement said. "Provocation is when somebody has intent to hurt somebody else, but what we are doing is to protect ourselves, our country, our land, our people."
The U.S.-South Korean military exercises, on the other hand, are provocative, North Korea said: "It's a reckless American way of provocation and they're doing all this on somebody else's land."
It threatened the possibility of the launch of a more powerful rocket...
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