North Korea Defends Its Right to Launch an ICBM
North Korea is doubling down on its viewpoint that it has the right just like any other sovereign country to test an ICBM. Of note though is that they are saying the ICBM test is part of its space program:
North Korean criticized the international community on Tuesday for its double standard toward the country’s development of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in his New Year’s Day address that the country has entered the final stage of preparations to test fire an ICBM, an apparent warning that the reclusive country is perfecting the capability to hit the continental United States with nukes.
“Acting by the double-dealing standard unilaterally set by the U.S. in its interests, the UN brands the legitimate exercise of the sovereignty by an independent country as ‘illegal’ and its measure for self-defense provocation,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English-language report monitored in Seoul.
Pyongyang’s state-run media further said the North’s test firing is the country’s “exercise of the right to launch satellites for peaceful purposes, justified by international law.” [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but the way I look at it is if the Kim regime wants to be treated like a normal country, then act like a normal country.
