Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Following a series of ballistic missile launches by North Korea in the last two days, Pyongyang has issued a statement blaming the United States and South Korea.

According to the North’s Central News Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea released the following official statement on Thursday: “North Korea’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemns the US and some of its followers for improperly presenting to the UN Security Council our natural response to the South Korean-US joint drills that heighten military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”

“We are closely watching the US re-sending aircraft carrier strike groups into the waters of the Korean Peninsula, posing a serious threat to the stability of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and surrounding areas.”

Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio said the launches were “absolutely unacceptable.”

In response, the United States and South Korean militaries fired four surface-to-surface missiles off the east coast of South Korea in a combined drill.