UNITED NATIONS, November 21. /TASS/. North Korea's missile tests are a response to wargames by the US and its allies in the region, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Anna Yevstigneyeva, said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday.
"Russia opposes any military activity that threatens the security of the Korean Peninsula and the countries of Northeast Asia. However, we are again becoming hostages of a vicious circle that is well known to us in the context of this issue," she stated.
"The United States and its allies in the region conduct large-scale exercises. The DPRK naturally reacts, and then we meet here to discuss all this," Yevstigneyeva said. "This logic’s flaw is this: with each new spiral the positions of the parties and their actions turn ever more challenging and defiant and ever more dangerous to international peace and security. In our opinion, the reason for what is happening is obvious. It is Washington's desire to force Pyongyang into unilateral disarmament by means of sanctions and pressure," Yevstigneyeva said.
North Korea on November 18 launched an intercontinental missile, which flew about 1,000 kilometers along a steep trajectory, rising to a maximum altitude of 6,000 kilometers and splashed down about 200 kilometers west of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, within Japan’s exclusive economic zone. According to Japanese Defense Ministry estimates, if launched along an ordinary trajectory, such a missile is capable of flying more than 15,000 kilometers to reach the continental part of the United States.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the day after the launch that the test of the Hwasong-17 missile was successful.