North Korea has lashed out at the United States for imposing "double standards" on Pyongyang's recent rocket launch, calling the U.S. move a product of its "hostile policy" toward the North.
"The U.S. malignantly slandered the (North's) satellite launch … as 'a long-range missile launch' and spearheaded a campaign for 'protesting' against it for no reason," the North's Foreign Ministry said in an English-language statement carried late Monday by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
The ministry claimed the U.S. backed "other country's" long-range missile launch, saying, "The U.S. application of the double standards is, in the final analysis, a product of its hostile policy towards" the North.
The latest statement came a week after the U.N. Security Council condemned the launch and called on member states to find ways to tighten sanctions on the communist country.
North Korea launched a long-range rocket on April 13 to put what it claims was a satellite into orbit, but it exploded soon after lift-off, with the pieces falling into the sea off South Korea's west coast.
However, South Korea, the U.S. and other regional powers said it was a cover for testing the North's ballistic missile technology, which is banned under a U.N. resolution.
Last week, the North's Foreign Ministry "resolutely and totally" rejected the U.N. condemnation as it accused the council of having double standards and blocking peaceful activities by countries hostile to Washington.
North Korea also said last week that it will continue to launch satellites for its economic development, though it did not give any specific time frame for the next rocket launch. (Yonhap)