N.Korea slams EU criticism of missile launches

Seoul, Feb 11 (IANS) North Korea has condemned the European Union's (EU) criticism of its series of missile launches last month, calling it an "intolerable" act of interfering in its internal affairs.In a message posted on Thursday on the Foreign Ministry's website, Ri Sang-rim, chairman of the North's Korea-Europe Association, took issue with the EU's recent statement denouncing its missile tests as a threat to international and regional peace and security, reports Yonhap News Agency."We flatly denounce and reject this as this is a flagrant infringement upon our sovereignty and an intolerable act of interfering into the internal affairs of our country," the statement read. "Our measures for increasing national defense capability do not cause any threat or harm to the neighbouring countries and the region."In the international community, it added, the voice is growing day by day that the U., a party directly concerned for the Korean peninsula issue, should take a real action to stop the vicious cycle of tensions deepening.The North has carried out seven rounds of missile tests this year, even hinting at the possibility of breaking its years-long moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testing.
--IANS ksk/

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