N. Korea says recent SLBM test not targeted at US

TOKYO, Oct 21 (KUNA) -- North Korea said Thursday its recent test-firing of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) did not target the US, stressing that there is no need for Washington to "worry or trouble itself" over it.
The test was "part of the normal activities for carrying out the medium- and long-term plan for the development of defense science and it did not pose any threat or damage to the security of the neighboring countries and the region," a spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
"When doing the recent test-firing we did not have the US in mind nor aimed at it, but it is the work which had already been planned purely for the defense of the country. So, there is no need for the US to worry or trouble itself over the test-firing," the spokesperson added.
The remarks came a day after Pyongyang confirmed its test-firing of a new type of SLBM Tuesday. The spokesperson also expressed deep concerns over the US and UN Security Council for convening an emergency meeting on the launch, saying, "It truly concerns us that the US is showing abnormal reactions to the exercise of the right to self-defense proper and just to a sovereign state." The North has already expressed strong concern over the fact that the US and the UNSC are tampering with a dangerous 'time bomb,'" the official noted.
On Tuesday, South Korea's military said the North fired what was believed to be an SLBM into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), which flew around 590 km at a maximum altitude of about 60 km. It was the North's first SLBM launch since October 2019, which traveled about 450 km. (end) mk.mt