MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. North Korea’s missile launches are a legitimate defensive measure in response to provocative activity on the part of the United States, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told TASS.

"[Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily] Nebenzya clearly said in New York that this comes as a response from our [North] Korean friends to what is happening around the Korean Peninsula and to that provocative activity the United States has been developing jointly with its allies. [This] is a legitimate measure to ensure [North Korea’s] own defense capability," he argued when asked to comment on North Korea’s recent missile tests.

On October 31, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) tested its newest intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-19. The trajectory of the missile reached an altitude of 7,687.5 kilometers (4,776.8 miles) and flew a distance of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles). North Korea launched seven short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday morning, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said.