N. Korea says its missile tests are 'self-defense' actions against U.S. threats

SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Saturday its latest missile tests are "regular and self-defense" actions against U.S. military threats, days after it fired a series of ballistic missiles.

"The missile test launch by the DPRK is a regular and planned self-defensive step for defending the country's security and the regional peace from the U.S. direct military threats that have lasted for more than half a century," the National Aviation Administration (NAA) said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea has ratcheted up tensions on the peninsula with a string of weapons tests, including the firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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