The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday slammed the remarks made by U.S. President Barack Obama at the 11th East Asia Summit about its ballistic missile launches and urged Washington to exercise "self-prudence."[Special coverage]
Obama vowed on Tuesday to work with the United Nations to tighten sanctions against the DPRK when he attended the meeting of the East Asian leaders.
These remarks "are nothing but last-ditch efforts to dodge the criticism of the hostile policy toward the DPRK ... and give a further boost to the international atmosphere of pressure on the DPRK," said a statement issued by a spokesman for the DPRK foreign ministry.
"The only way of averting a war and defending peace in Korea is to increase in every way the military capabilities for self-defense with the nuclear deterrence as a pivot," said the statement, which was carried by the state media KCNA.
The statement urged the United States to exercise self-restraint and not to infringe on the sovereignty and dignity of the DPRK.
The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned its Monday missile launches in a press statement and reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
On Monday, the DPRK fired three ballistic missiles into eastern waters. These launches are in grave violation of the DPRK's international obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions, said the UN press statement.
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 preemptive 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, on Aug. 24.
