North Korea rejects UNSC condemnation of missile tests, vows bolstered N-program

North Korea has lambasted a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) statement that slammed Pyongyang for its latest missile tests, pledging to bolster its nuclear program in response.

In a statement carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency on Wednesday, a spokesman for the country’s Foreign Ministry said, “The US and its followers cooked up a press release again in which they found fault with the DPRK [North Korea]’s measure for bolstering up nuclear deterrence for self-defense.”

“The DPRK categorically rejects this as an intolerable act of encroaching upon its dignity, right to existence, sovereignty and right to self-defense,” the unnamed spokesman said.

The UNSC had on Tuesday deplored the North’s test-firing of three ballistic missiles carried out a day earlier.

“These launches are in grave violation of the DPRK’s international obligations and UN Security Council resolutions,” the 15-member Council had said in a unanimously-adopted statement, threatening to take “further significant measures” against Pyongyang.

On Monday, when the missiles were fired, the North’s leader Kim Jong-un hailed the launches as “perfect.”

The North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson further said, “The DPRK will continue to expand the signal successes of bolstering up the nuclear force in a phased way in this historic year when it started with the solemn blast of the first H-bomb test of Juche Korea.”

In January, North Korea said it had detonated a hydrogen bomb with success, its fourth nuclear test, and vowed to build up its nuclear program as deterrence against potential aggression from the US and its regional allies.

The UN and the West have imposed a series of sanctions on Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile activities.

North Korea says it will not abandon its nuclear “deterrence” unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led command in South Korea. Thousands of US troops are stationed in South Korea and Japan.