PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) – North Korea on Saturday expressed anger at United Nations Security Council discussions over a statement denouncing the country’s latest submarine-launched missile test.
North Korean Foreign Ministry official Jon Min Dok told Associated Press Television News in an interview that the U.S.-led discussions at the U.N. were a “terrible provocation” and that the country is developing nuclear weapons because of “outrageous nuclear intimidation” by the United States.
Jon spoke just before the Security Council concluded the discussions with a statement strongly condemning all four North Korean ballistic missile launches in July and August, calling them “grave violations” of a ban on all ballistic missile activity.
The statement came after North Korea fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its eastern coast on Wednesday. South Korean defense officials said the missile was tracked flying about 500 kilometers (310 miles), the longest distance achieved by the North for such a weapon.
Jon said that the latest submarine-launched missile didn’t cause any harm to the security of neighboring countries. He said it showed North Korea’s “great power and inexhaustible strength in the face of the trials of history and the challenges of our enemies.”