ANKARA

North Korea on Tuesday slammed the UN chief over his remarks against the latest missile launches and said its missile tests are only for “defense” purposes.

In a statement, Kim Son Gyong, vice-minister for International Organizations of Foreign Ministry, regretted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ statement and said: “It is just counteraction for self-defense to cope with the US military provocations.”

“This being a hard fact, the UN secretary-general is echoing what the White House and the State Department say as if he were their mouthpiece, which is deplorable,” Kim said in a statement published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

He added that North Korea did not commit provocation but conducted military drills as counteraction in response to the largest-ever combined air drill staged by the US and South Korea.

Last week, the UN chief condemned the intercontinental ballistic missile launches by North Korea as well as the barrage of missiles. He demanded that Pyongyang immediately desist from taking further provocative action and fully comply with its international obligations under all relevant Security Council resolutions.

North Korea recently launched around two dozen missiles, apparently in response to five-day large-scale combined air drills by South Korea and the US, further escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

"If the war drills being staged in a frantic manner by openly introducing an aircraft carrier and strategic bombers against the sovereign state are described as ‘defensive’ and the exercise of the just right to self-defense to cope with them is branded as ‘provocation,’ the UN, whose most important mission is to maintain global peace and security, will lose its justification for existence,” said Kim.

He added that if the UN chief truly wants to contribute to maintaining world peace and stability then he should focus on getting rid of the source of provocation with correct insight.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid