North Korea tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday that experts say would ease the way for missile launches with little warning, part of an increase in its military activities in recent weeks.
Hours after the trilateral exercises, Ri Pyong Chol, vice president of the North Korean ruling party's Central Military Commission, issued a statement criticising the U.S. for calling a U.N. Security Council meeting over its ICBM test.
The North's weapons development was a self-defensive measure of defence against the U.S., Ri said. He accused Washington of raising regional tensions "to the brink of explosion" with military drills simulating a "pre-emptive nuclear strike and an all-out war" against the North.
The recent deployment of U.S. strategic bombers was "clear evidence that the U.S. nuclear threat and blackmail against us has reached a level that cannot be overlooked", Ri said.
"If the U.S. ignores our repeated warnings and continues actions that endanger the security environment of the Korean peninsula, we will take necessary action so that it feels a clearer security crisis and insurmountable threat," he added.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the U.N. Security Council at Monday's meeting: "Let me be clear, our lawful efforts to defend against the DPRK's repeated escalatory actions do not in any way justify the DPRK's unlawful behaviour."
North Korea - formally known at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) - has been under U.N. sanctions for its missile and nuclear programs since 2006.
