The North’s official KCNA news agency, citing the spokesman for the foreign ministry, said the country had “substantially displayed” the capabilities for mounting a nuclear attack on Hawaii and Alaska and had built full capabilities for attacking the U.S. mainland.
U.S. and South Korean officials and experts believe the North is several years away from having such a capability.
North Korea said on Monday that Sunday’s launch met all technical requirements that could allow mass-production of the missile, which it calls the Pukguksong-2.
The test was North Korea’s second in a week and South Korea’s new liberal government said it dashed its hopes for peace on the peninsula.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the launch and again expressed its concern over the North’s behaviour. The Security Council is due to meet behind closed doors later on Tuesday.
North Korea’s recent missile tests were a legitimate act of self-defence by a “fully-fledged nuclear power”, North Korean diplomat Ju Yong Chol told the U.N. Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Tuesday.
“It is the United States’ hostile policy and its aggressive joint military drills, nuclear threats and military build-up around the Korean peninsula that really aggravates the situation on the Korean peninsula and the region and which compels the DPRK to also up its nuclear deterrence,” he said.
DPRK are the initials for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Ju was the only speaker at the forum who did not begin his remarks by offering condolences to Britain for the victims of Monday night’s bomb attack at a concert in Manchester.
The South Korean military did not say if the unidentified object was hit by the warning shots on Tuesday, but it disappeared from military radar.
North Korea has previously sent drones into South Korean airspace, with some crashing. In January 2016, South Koreafired warning shots at a suspected drone which turned back.
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea is possible over its weapons programmes, although U.S. officials say tougher sanctions, not military force, are the preferred option to counter the North Korean threat.
Additional reporting by agencies
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