North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday that the country's "strike drill" last week was "normal military training for self-defence". The drill was guided by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who conducted rocket launches and launched at least one short-range ballistic missile.
"The recent exercises conducted by our army are nothing more than normal military training, neither aimed at either side nor exacerbated regional tensions," an unidentified spokesman for the Korean military said in a statement to the Korean Central News Agency.
Patrick Shanahan, acting U.S. Defense Secretary, said at a congressional hearing Wednesday that North Korea had launched "rockets and missiles", which was the first time the Defense Department had elaborated on what it considered North Korea's test launches.
In another statement released Wednesday by KCNA, a spokesman for the DPRK office responsible for military contacts with South Korea fiercely attacked South Korea's statement. South Korea believes the rocket test violates an agreement reached between the two Koreas to ease military tensions.
According to KCNA, the spokesman said, "The Korean military should look carefully at the DPRK-ROK military agreement and think about what it has done before making some nonsense that violates the spirit of the agreement."
The second statement also attacked last week when the US Air Force test-fired a volunteer intercontinental ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean from California. The statement said South Korea was not qualified to criticize North Korea.
According to a subsequent report in the English edition of KCNA, the spokesman also aimed at South Korea, accusing it of conducting "provocative" joint air exercises with the United States and allowing the United States to deploy THAAD missile systems in its territory.
Hot Model No.: