North Korea's National Aviation Administration said on Saturday that its ballistic missile tests are "a regular and planned self-defensive step" to protect the country and the region from the "direct military threats" from the United States. Pyongyang has carried out a number of missile launches in recent days, including an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japanese territory.
North Korea rejected claims that the launches threaten civil aviation and other countries in the region. "We categorically condemn and reject this as a political provocation of the US and its vassal forces aimed to infringe upon the sovereignty" of North Korea, the aviation administration said, according to Yonhap.
