North Korea condemns US test launch of ICBM

The North Korea on Friday condemned the US test launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier this week, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

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 US, the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a North Korea Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.

"The US 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 North Korea's nuclear and long-range ballistic missile launch, but many world media are concerned that the consecutive ICBM tests by the US can push the acute situation on the Korean Peninsula to a graver phase," said the spokesman.

"The US maintains it may carry out missile launches but the North Korea can not and that its launches are a ''contribution'' to peace and security while the North Korea''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 US Air Force test launched another unarmed ICBM capable of carrying a nuclear warhead from an air base in California Wednesday morning. The North Korea describes the test launch as a simulation strike against it.

-- BERNAMA