PYONGYANG, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Friday condemned the U.S. test launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier this week.
The test-fire of an ICBM on May 3 followed an earlier one on April 26 "at a time when the situation on the Korean Peninsula has reached an extremely dangerous phase due to the largest-ever joint military drills" between the South Korea and the United States, the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
"The U.S. claims the two ICBM test-fires conducted just in a little over one week were planned one year ago and they have nothing to do with the DPRK's nuclear and long-range ballistic missile launch, but many world media are concerned that the consecutive ICBM tests by the U.S. can push the acute situation on the Korean Peninsula to a graver phase," said the spokesman.
"The U.S. maintains it may carry out missile launches but the DPRK can not and that its launches are a 'contribution' to peace and security while the DPRK's are a 'provocation' straining tension. This sophism is the height of double-dealing standards," he said.
For the second time in a week, the U.S. Air Force test launched another unarmed ICBM capable of carrying a nuclear warhead from an air base in California Wednesday morning. The DPRK describes the test launch as a simulation strike against it.
